[SGillum]

Hi everyone.

recently brought a 2004 GU zd30.
Very tidy, 330kms. Good service history. Had recent full service ( all oils, filters )
Person I brought off used to drive from Albany to Perth every few weeks for fifo, so roughly 400km.
I checked the oil, coolant etc before going down for a beach day, few hundred kms round trip.
Before we left, I notice the radiator had low level in it, but the 2 other tanks were fine. So I topped up the rad. And went out for the day. Temp didn't move, no smoke nothing. The boost didn't go over 5psi. As there is a boost gauge installed.

Checked it this morning, again low level. Moved the car, ran for maybe 5 mins. Checked again and there was water in the rad.

There's nothing leaking, no smoke. No loss in power.
Just scratching my head a bit.

Any advice?
Cheers.

 

[grumpyone]

Hi everyone.

recently brought a 2004 GU zd30.
Very tidy, 330kms. Good service history. Had recent full service ( all oils, filters )
Person I brought off used to drive from Albany to Perth every few weeks for fifo, so roughly 400km.
I checked the oil, coolant etc before going down for a beach day, few hundred kms round trip.
Before we left, I notice the radiator had low level in it, but the 2 other tanks were fine. So I topped up the rad. And went out for the day. Temp didn't move, no smoke nothing. The boost didn't go over 5psi. As there is a boost gauge installed.

Checked it this morning, again low level. Moved the car, ran for maybe 5 mins. Checked again and there was water in the rad.

There's nothing leaking, no smoke. No loss in power.
Just scratching my head a bit.

Any advice?
Cheers. View attachment 527461

The heater core might be leaking into the carpet 💩

 

[45/70]

Should be boosting a lot more than 5 psi.

 

[SGillum]

Should be boosting a lot more than 5 psi.

Sorry, should of mentioned I just cruise. It got up to about 13psi with my foot hard down.

 

[NissTorq]

How much coolant are you talking about when you say topped up radiator?

My thoughts are to replace radiator cap and thermostat.

Worst case is head gasket may have begun to fail and be leaking coolant into combustion.

Keep an eye on it and you could get the coolant system pressure tested, takes 5 mins at a shop with the test kit, if theres no other simple explanation

 

[SGillum]

How much coolant are you talking about when you say topped up radiator?

May be best to wait till car has cooled down to check level as any over flow coolant will suck back into radiator, and my thoughts are to replace radiator cap and thermostat.

Worst case is head gasket may have begun to fail and be leaking coolant into combustion.

Keep an eye on it and you could get the coolant system pressure tested, takes 5 mins at a shop with the test kit

I checked it when cold and it took maybe, 500ml if that.
I think I'll start with the caps.

 

[NissTorq]

Yeah I saw that a second after posting and edited. OK 500ml in a day is lot of coolant, going somewhere? I hope there's a simple explanation

 

[NissTorq]

Another thought is if it was just serviced and you only just bought is, if they changed coolant it may have had a air lock of 500 ml

 

[SGillum]

Another thought is if it was just serviced and you only just bought is, if they changed coolant it may have had a air lock of 500 ml

Yeah that is a good point. Hopefully it is something simple. Drove it up from Albany with no issues, and been driving around a bit also with no issues.

 

[BeeP]

I had a minor leak, abit over the oil filter mount
to get there, had to take out the whole intake manifold to get there
the culprit turned out to be a crack in one of the hose connectors
a fast weld served the purpose, but it was quite a hassle getting to it.
the moral of the story; look out for tiny cracks, and hopefully it turns out something minor and closes that chapter
best of luck

 

[TheGreaseMonkey]

I'm hardly an expert on these things but you shouldn't have to check the coolant level at the radiator, only at the top tank (surge tank?). Any air should end up in the top tank.
Expansion forces coolant from the top tank to the overflow, not from the radiator to the top tank or overflow.
Make sure they've put the right caps on too. The radiator only has a blanking cap. The 'traditional' radiator cap is on the top tank between the top tank and overflow. I'm wondering if they have put a recovery cap on the radiator and it is sucking air in there when cooling instead of drawing coolant from the overflow tank back into the top tank?