Coolant loss, no visible leaks

[Terry57]

It's funny you say that.

It was in innisfail FNQ at the Holden dealer who told me to walk over the road to the Auto store and buy that new Cap. He said it would be the same, they sold just a different brand.

Repco store i think it was.

 

[Horacehighroller]

I just noticed a slow drip leak from underneath the car, right in the middle around where the engine bay starts. Probably a drop every 20 seconds. I’ll take it in to get looked at.

Is your overflow bottle up past the full mark?
My experience is that sometimes air can be sucked into the system when it is cooling down, next time the engine heats up coolant is expelled to the radiator overflow tank which eventually overflows. This is mostly a radiator cap issue (Buy genuine as previously advised.)
It could also be the coolant inlet seal.
(if so you will normally find a pink stain immediately above the water pump pulley.)
The coolant can also blow back along the valley and run down the passenger side of the bell housing leaving stains.
If it is coming down the bell housing it may also be from the thermostat seal.

 

[Fu Manchu]

I’ve been using this Commodore forum since 2006 and can say with some experience from me and that of others, issues with the Tridon marked cap are a thing and there’s been plenty of others over the years on this forum that have seen their problems fixed by using a genuine cap

Buy one from Holden, problems gone.

 

[J_D 2.0]

I’ve been using this Commodore forum since 2006 and can say with some experience from me and that of others, issues with the Tridon marked cap are a thing and there’s been plenty of others over the years on this forum that have seen their problems fixed by using a genuine cap

Buy one from Holden, problems gone.

So we’re all screwed once the stock of Holden caps runs out.

 

[Skylarking]

So we’re all screwed once the stock of Holden caps runs out.

Yep...

There will always be those made in China genuine (looking) radiator caps touted as Holden NOS, on eBay and for a great price

Man, this country is forked

 

[Fu Manchu]

So we’re all screwed once the stock of Holden caps runs out.

Nope. We can still buy from GM. These are still available. Will be for ten years or more. They are the same VE S1 to VF2. Also used on a raft of other GM vehicles.

 

[J_D 2.0]

Nope. We can still buy from GM. These are still available. Will be for ten years or more. They are the same VE S1 to VF2. Also used on a raft of other GM vehicles.

True.

 

[Terry57]

After trolling this forum for a few years and reading other forums concerning using OME parts versus after market parts i've come to this conclusion.

The little bit of money saved on the aftermarket parts compared to the cost of the vehicle amounts to zero.

If one has a 1970 mini minor project car then using after market parts is OK in my books but why try and Jew down a few sheckles on a late model vehicle. ?

 

[Terry57]

It's sort of like getting ya car serviced by the Holden dealer who has all the latest diagnostic gear and tools and will charge you 150 buks an hour versus your Bogan mate down the road who is going to cut you a deal on labor at 50 buks an hour. ????

Yer, Ok, i'm going to go with the Holden dealer thanks very much.

 

[Fu Manchu]

It’s a bit like getting your car serviced by the Holden Dealer service team that doesn’t follow any of the diagnostic advice, and does what most outdated garages do, and that’s swap parts at the customers expense based on their outdated training, and ignores the easy to follow flow charts produced by the manufacturer. End result $600 invoice and problem still exists. That or write the car off. It will be too much labour costs for them to do their job poorly.

I have 30 years of those experiences on and off to base that on. It’s why I do what I can to learn it myself. It’s what started me buying auto elec books. It’s why I have as many factory manuals as I can get.

I recall when I had my VP, I found all the volumes of the factory Holden workshop manuals at the local library. I borrowed what I could and fixed a long list of problems that Holden had failed to do because they didn’t use their own literature to do servicing and fault diagnosis.