I've noticed that a bit of coolant is being lost from the Ka, generally around the ends of hoses as far as I can see, so it looks like it's getting a bit warm. There's no temperature gauge, but the idiot light isn't coming on. Any ideas on what to check?
What do you mean when you reckon it's getting a bit warm? The Ka's cooling system is very robust and I've only known of overheating problems when the fan doesn't work. But with enough coolant in the system, it still takes forever for the cooling fan to kick in at higher speed. I've only had ours kicking on when deliberately provoking it in York's busy city traffic when it was 35 degrees.
The cooling system fan is controlled by the ECU. If your temperature sensor is shot, it's possible that it is overheating and not running the cooling fan... this may also explain crappy fuel consumption too. Are you about York this next week? Can plug it in to my OBD-II Scanner to check the cooling sensor reported temperature.
Otherwise, it's not unknown for hoses to deteriorate and leak, which should like your problem - assuming it's not the head gasket?
The coolant's pushing it's way past the hose clamp where the big top hose meets the aluminium thermostat housing. I expect if coolant's getting it'll expand and try to push past seals etc. The cooling fan is coming on AFAIK, but I'll check it tomorrow.
Not really, it's an hour or so away from here. My driving might go a long way towards my crap fuel consumption ;).
It's not the HG. It's losing been losing a bit of oil but it's not getting into the water, just out of the rocker box. There's no mayo either.
You'll know when the cooling fan kicks in at high speed. It's noisy, little children and small animals get sucked up to the intake too.
Heh heh heh...
Right. Some people report that their Ka loses coolant every so often for no reason other than it wants to... then it stops for another twenty thousand miles or so...
Heh. I've not been aware of it not coming on, but it might be. I usually get the engine fairly warm so it should kick in ;).
What did the OBD-II setup cost you BTW? I seem to remember it works with a Palm Pilot. Wonder if I could get a cheap palm of ebay and get the kit... Not for this specific thing, just because it'd be handy. I assume they can pull out error codes as well?
Bizarre. Mine does seem to occasionally lose a bit of coolant. I'll keep having a check over and see if the thermostat is opening...
Stop being a girl, keep topping it up and leave it be :)
As a side note, the 405 used to lose some coolant, doesn't anymore. One of the hoses was perished and squirting a jet onto the temp sensor area, had that changed and doesn't lose any coolant anymore, i assume that hose had always had a small leak, that suddenly got big :)
Yes, but there's warm and there's hot. I had to trundle around York in the summer heat (35 degrees), stop / go traffic, air conditioning working hard, for 40 minutes before the fan cut in.
This one does. You can get laptop and PalmOS kits, and a few PocketPC ones too.
It was $200, so that's cheap with the exchange rate the way it is, plus the Palm. I'd recommend the m130
Oh yes. Unfortunately, Kermit hasn't had any errors to report on... yet.
Yes. It's strange, most people don't bother worrying about it...
Not to make people paranoid, but...
Headgasket doesn't have to mix fluids, it can be external and evaporate so you won't notice, or into a cylinder. Again you won't notice unless major!
They have a problem with the thermostat housings corroding away....REPLACE IT
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.