Radiator hiss - dangerous?

Esteemed and wise folk,

my S3 diesel's radiator started hissing after I got home from work today - a small stream of steam is coming out of somewhere I can't quite see.

How dangerous is it for me to keep her topped up with water and keep driving? Just need to get to work and back tomorrow and Friday (~5 miles each way) then I can look at it Saturday.

Are there such things as stop-leak for radiators?

Funny thing is the plastic filler cap on the reservoir to the right of the radiator is completely shattered through too.

Never rains but it pours eh, thought it was just exhaust, manifold coupling, seat-belts, injectors and valve-clearances that were the urgent things on the truck, now this :)

Cheers,

h
Reply to
h
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All depends on how rapidly it is losing water. As long as it is kept up there is no problem, but the hissing suggests it was actually boiling due to loss of coolant. Allowing it to overheat due to loss of coolant can get expensive , although it is not as likely to be bad as with an alloy head. The plastic filler cap will have nothing to do with it - these seem to only last a couple of years anyway. JD

Reply to
JD

Alot of folk hate the stuff but on a S3 I'd chuck a bottle of radweld in it. probably get some at most petrol stations.

Regards. Mark.

Reply to
MVP

oo if your filler cap isn't sealing then your coolant isn't pressurised and hence not working properly...

Regards. Mark.

Reply to
MVP

indeed. replacing the broken pressure cap on my 101 brought the temperature down from overheating all the time to the usual hot.

Reply to
Tom Woods

Unless it's been modified the 'reservoir' on this model is not pressurised - it's just an overflow catch tank. The pressure control device is the cap on the radiator top tank.

Anyway, it's now Friday and you've either cooked things properly or got home safely! I hope that it's the latter.

Reply to
Dougal

Barrs (the original in the little square bottle, not the tablets) is even better. Saab used to recommend having it in the system at all times.

Reply to
Danny

a bit like that thread about the tyre stuff, sits there doing nothing until a hole appears then it's dealt with right away. wonder if the wifes saab will run ok with it in, 1990 turbo model.

Regards. Mark.

Reply to
MVP

I didn't know that, shows my ignorance, long time since I've delt with a S3.

Regards. Mark.

Reply to
MVP

... and I've just realised that it's not yet Friday!

Reply to
Dougal

Sorry!

Reply to
Dougal

Thats ruined my weekend! ;)

Reply to
Tom Woods

Saab seem to think it's fine to sit in the system. It presumably does something nice rather than just sitting there waiting for a leak. My

9000 was a'90 and my friends' is a '94 9000 Griffin turbo, although nothing has really changed in the 2.4 engine for years. We both use Barrs all the time. Cracking cars and I liked that engine apart from the timing and balance chain issues at 120k miles.
Reply to
Danny

oo Griffin :D got my eye on a nice carlsson at the moment, after I get the Discovery though.

Regards. Mark.

Reply to
MVP

The C900's (or better still 99's) are better than those newfangled

9000 things ;-). Get yerself a 99T! :)

As for timing chain issues at 120k - that isnt too bad!. once you get the timing chain sorted you're good for another 120k. I dont mind having to do a bit of maintenance on a car every 120-150k!

On the topic of radweld or other stop-leak stuff - i'm not a fan of it! I've used it on my old car (a saab also!) and it stopped the leak

- but it blocked up my radiator and made it totally useless at the same time. By all means use it as a temporary measure to get you home or use till you have time to fix the problem properly, but i dont see the point in keeping it in the system all the time. Its just going to settle in places and block stuff up. A healthy engine and radiator should have no need for it - and blocking things up isnt going to help anything.

If you drive a saab turbo properly, you need all the cooling system you can get!

It isnt too hard to keep an eye on the temperature gauge or watch out for steam/water coming out where it shouldnt!

I will put some stop leak in my car the day that the radiator pops or the headgasket starts to go and i have somewhere urgent to drive to or have to get it home and can't manage without that - But i'd much rather stop driving the car and get it taken home by the RAC than have to replace my radiator or spend ages flushing the block and head out in addition to fixing whatever went wrong

Reply to
Tom Woods

Original posting had been some time ago, but we had a similar problem with some minor leakage (Defender 90 2.5TD), and radweld did the job just fine.

Now the question, can I leave the stuff just in the cooling system, or should I refill the whole system? The manual on the bottle claims it can just stay, but I do not feel very well with this brown, stinky gunk inside the cooling system.

regards - Ralph

Reply to
Ralph A. Schmid, DK5RAS

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