Leaking coolant

[jmp994]

Every few weeks or so my car runs out of coolant and have to top it up otherwise i find myself sitting at the traffice lights and she starts to overheat. Usually once i start driving again it will go back down but the water needs topping up fast.

Took it to the mechanice 2 years ago and he said it just needed the heater tap replaced which was causing the problem. Havnt fixed it yet but comming into summer need to fix it up.

Does anyone know if the heater tap can casue coolant to leak?

[quombone]

yes,
about 30-40$ and 34-40min to replace and refill,bleed.

[Dayvo]

I replaced mine not long ago i was frequently topping up the radiator , It started as a slow leak then it just sh!t itself . They are made of plastic and are a common problem with the VT VX model Cost $25 from the wreckers. As quombone said make sure you bleed the system .

[banga]

dont get one from the wreckers you could end up with exactly the same problem as the pipes on the side get brittle with age, go to repco or to ur fav aftermarket joint and buy one for about $25-35 its easy to fix look inside the engine bay on the drivers side of the bay you will see a little plastic thing stuck to the wall on the left hand side , it just pulls away from the side then you can take the hoses off it and take the part out , takes about 30 mins as the previous guys said , dont for get to bleed the system , ask here if you get stuck or de a search

[jmp994]

ok cool thanks for that. I will give it a go this weekend.
Just did a search on bleeding the system but not clear on bleeding.
So once you replace the heater tap with hoses attached.
You unscrew the bleed screw slighty
You take off the radiator cap and attach a funnel/bottle in the radiator plug hole and fill with coolant so it is higher than the bleed screw and gradually the liquid will come out of the bleed screw is that right?
Then you start the car with funnel still in the radiator? Is that right? wouldnt water start comming out of the radiator?

[Dayvo]

The way i donr mine was to fill up the cooling system then run the motor till it reaches operating temp and the system is pressurised then undo the bleed screw till a steady stream of fluid comes out . You might have to do it a few times . Don't open the radiator cap .

[banga]

you fill it up through the neck of the radiator ie: after you take the cap off , you will have to remove the engine cover if there is one fitted , its only 4 x 10 mm nuts start the car after filling make sure car is level , you can turn the heater on too if you want to get all the air out , leave the cap off and let the temp go up it will drop a bit when the thermostat opens so you top it up then open the bleed screw a tad to see if anythings coming out, it will steam for a bit but dont panic , just keep topping the radiator up if the coolant starts to rise up out of the radiator neck just cap it off and bleed it , when you get a stream of coolant nip it up tight , dont over tighten it or it may break, put all the covers and stuff back on and wait and see if the fans come on , you can top the overflo bottle up as well dont panic it it runs over as they do that if it is too full , itll sort itself out , if it sits halfway on the temp gauge and the fans are clicking on then your all done , oh ..turn your heater off :P

[jmp994]

Replaced the heater tap yesterday....bit of a squeeze getting the clamps off the hoses etc but got there after about half hour and bottom plastic nozzle had a crack so deffinately where it was leaking. Replaced the thermostat too as just in the last few days it was overheating after car warm up when sitting at lights etc everytime you started it and wasnt leaking coolant. Did the trick. She is running perfect temp. Thanks for your help!! bleeding it out wasnt too hard either. Nice one!

[Chucknorris]

just did exactly the same thing about an hour ago. $25 from Bursons and $45 from REPCO for the tap.