high consumption

[aussie4life]

Hey all. Last Monday my car overheated and when I checked, I found the radiator bone dry. Filled it at work and hasn't missed a beat since except for this high fuel consumption. Does anyone have any idea what would cause this spike in fuel usage? No water in the oil or trans fluid. No oils in the radiator. And no signs of a leak from the water pump. Any idea where my coolant went to? Bout to bleed it and do a diag with my laptop and cable. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[SavVYute]

Might have baked deposits onto the coolant temperature sensor's probe, making it give false readings to the ECU.

 

[aussie4life]

Okay so pull the temp sensor and clean it?

 

[aussie4life]

At what temps are the low and high speed fans meant to come on? Currently I'm idling in my driveway and according to the dash, coolant temp is currently 91°c and still no low or high fans

 

[SavVYute]

If it's VY you should be able to pull the temperature it is sending from the mode button on the dash.
Note to here's two VY coolant temp senders. One works the gauge in the instrument cluster, the other works with the computer.

You can test them with a multimeter too.

 

[aussie4life]

Ok. Scratch my last question. Kept it idling. It hit 104, went to 105 and fan came on. Fan turned off when it dropped to 99°. Now I'm testing my radiator cap. Got the overflow hose into a measuring jug and letting it cool down. Have read that a dud cap will allow to much coolant to be pushed out of the system and into the reservoir causing it to over flow. When it's done this a couple of times there's nothing to pull back into the system. Am I right or misread what I seen? Lol

 

[aussie4life]

Ok. Now I'm stumped. After an hour or so it has not pushed out any coolant into the catch jug. Took the cap off and the level has dropped to the point where I can just see the coolant at the very bottom of the radiator neck. Put the funnel (coke bottle) back in. Filled it with water again. Opened the bleed screw and what do you know, more air came out. Any ideas?

 

[CONROD]

Got ya heater on hot, so the tap opens up and coolant can circulate

 

[aussie4life]

Yep followed a thread I found on here. Heater tap on. Funnel in. Top up high. Open bleed screw. Let air escape. Start motor. Run to temp. Re bleed. Cap on motor off once reached temp where the fans come on come back an hour later. Coolant lvl has dropped.

 

[lowandslow]

Might have a LIM gasket leak. Ours was using about a liter of water a fortnight with no tell tail signs.