Looking for loan of coolant/combustion test kit

[Mat456]

Hi all,

Is anyone prepared to loan me a block test / coolant combustion gas test kit ? I'll pay for the test fluid used. I need to check out my sick mk3 golf.

I'm in North London (N20) please PM me if you have one you would be willing to lend.

thanks.

Matt

[zollaf]

im not really close enough to help, but with the engine hot and running, can you see little bubbles rising in the header tank ?

[Mat456]

thks zollaf - always good to do the simple tests first! I checked the header tank and no sign of a bubble there.

I'm chasing a mysterious coolant leak and was suspecting head gasket gone (also from a horrible overheating incident which I now put down to extremely cold weather and not enough antifreeze (constant topping up of coolant with water alone is not a good idea))

Did a compression test today - the scores were 168, 172, 170, 173 is this a normal range for a car which has done 138000 miles or does it suggest a head gasket problem?

Anyone got any idea where coolant can leak invisibly? There's a little bit of condensation in the car but no stong smell and it's certainly not a turkish bath as Ive seen described elsewhere which might suggest heater matrix failure.

The car is driving fine - zipped up and down the motorway for about 50 miles and the coolant needed a top up, but otherwise it didn't miss a beat.

Can anyone help? I suppose I can live with constant coolant top ups, but I would like to fix the problem.

Thks

Matt

[phil miller]

the compression test is good, they are all evenish and tbh a good reading, if it was me i would pressure test the system, while its under pressure have a long good look round to see if you can see any leaks, if you cant then go for a sniff test

[SammoVWT]

It might be a leak in your heater matrix, if you are getting mist inside the car. Could equally be a cabin filter replacement.

How is the oil level? is it rising unexplainably?

[Mat456]

Progress update.

Thanks for the suggestions so far which I have followed up.

Having ruled out cracked head through compression test, and there not being enough condensaton or smell for heater matrix leak, I've gone back to basics. Rate of water loss seems highly variable, not obviously correlated with length of driving. Noticed recently that it was losing water overnight - again variable amounts.

Since the road has dried out in the last couple of weeks, it's been much easier to trace overnight dripping. Then looking up to trace any water droplets on pipe joints etc

I reseated the water flange on the head - it was replaced a couple of years ago, but I took it off, cleaned up the mating surfaces and tightened it as tight as I dared. Seems to have solved one drip.

There is still water dripping from pump housing (hard to see where exactly). So I plan to replace that this weekend. Pump is working fine but I suspect a seal may be gone - to my knowledge it's the original one so no surprise. I'm pretty hopeful that it will be the final piece of the jigsaw.

[vertigen]

I had a new pump leak on me with my MK3 a few years back, dumped a load of coolant, but couldn't see a leak. Would be worth having a look.