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Massive water consumption and hot temperatures!

vanq69er

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Hi all,

I am posting this for a mate who has a VY V6 Berlina and has had car troubles for ages that no one seems to be able to fix it.

Basically the symptoms are as follows:

Massive water consumption, 2+ L a day driving to and from work (1 hour driving)
Temperature rises to Hot when stopped and goes down when driving to 1/2 but each stop/start the temp drops get less and less (eventually it just sits on hot)
Rough idle which is intermittent but when its moving it is ok

What I had a look at (car was warm):

No water anywhere on the engine, I check when he got to work and there is nothing :confused: waterpump, hoses, radiator are all dry.
Popped the cap on the radiator and there was nothing there, I squeezed the bottom radiator hose and no water/bubbles came up (it felt empty).
Checked the oil, no milkyness and it looked pretty clean (just changed).
We put about 2L in until the rad wouldn't take any more (full of air) and started the car and there was alot of steam coming out the back and water that made a little puddle (10cm across) after about 1min of running


What has been done:

Heater coil removed
New plugs, radiator, WP, thermostat
Just serviced

Is it possible for the water to be getting into the cylinders but not into the oil?? Or is there a simpler explanation?

I will help him fill and bleed the system at lunch today and get him to check for leaks when he gets home.
 
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1_johnboy

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it is possible for water to be getting into the cylinders. Pretty common for inlet manifold gaskets to let go. In fact I just replaced one on a vs last night. Check your plugs for fouling, or if one or more is looking worse that the others. Do you have a steamy exhaust pipe?
There are alot of places water can leak. Just takes one perished gasket or O ring, check everywhere twice

Is the car on gas?
 

vanq69er

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it is possible for water to be getting into the cylinders. Pretty common for inlet manifold gaskets to let go. In fact I just replaced one on a vs last night. Check your plugs for fouling, or if one or more is looking worse that the others. Do you have a steamy exhaust pipe?
There are alot of places water can leak. Just takes one perished gasket or O ring, check everywhere twice

Is the car on gas?

Hey mate,

Thanks for the reply, the exhaust was very steamy but it was only about 13oC outside. I will help him fill the system and bleed it at lunch and see if we can see any leaks when it gets hot.

Also its not on gas, cheers.
 

ephect

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if there is no milky oil or oil in the coolant, he may just have a crack in his radiator sides. where does he park over night, during the day? lay some cardboard under the engine and let the car run, see if there are any water marks left on the cardboard.

high temps and loss of coolant do indicate manifold gasket, but this could also be due to the air in the system and low water during his drive. hard to tell atm.
 

vanq69er

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hey all,

by inlet manifold do you just mean this?

132841d1327270871-vs-vy-series-2-inlet-manifold-gasket-replacement-6hr-includes-pics-11.jpg


Or the whole engine intake manifold?
 

Big-Al

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no, the intake manifold is the big silver ####er behind that with the injectors sticking out of it. That is the thermostat housing.
 

vanq69er

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no, the intake manifold is the big silver ####er behind that with the injectors sticking out of it. That is the thermostat housing.

Oh damn, I thought that might be the case. Well looks like it is a mechanic job!

Any idea how much it would cost to get a new intake gasket fitted?
 

Big-Al

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Just grab a work shop manual and new gaskets mate. it's pretty easy to swap out.
 

vanq69er

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Yeah there is actually I really good guide on here but my mate isnt that mechanically minded (not at all really lol) and I dont know if I want to put my hand up to give it a crack haha!
 
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