GaryM
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 08:50 AM |
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New Car delivered without a radiator cap!
Guys, i'm after a bit of advice.
We recently (last week) bought a nearly new car (63 plate ex-demonstrator circa 3800 miles) from a well known brand main dealer.
After every drive we noticed a strange (sweet) smell eminating from the engine bay. After discussing with the salesman he suggested it was probably
the Diesel Particulate Filter and not to worry. However after a week of ownership (and a few hundred miles) I popped the bonnet to investigate.
Straight away I noticed the front/top of the engine, alternator, radiator cowling/fans were all covered with a bluey-white residue. A few seconds
later a realised where it was coming from when I saw a glimpse of shiny blue liquid, THE RADIATOR CAP WAS MISSING!!!
I called the main dealer who have been very good and taken the car back to 'investigate' and clean the engine compartment but how worried
should I be that i've been driving around without a pressurised cooling system that has been spraying the engine compartment with coolant for a
week?
Cheers
Gary
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Agriv8
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 09:09 AM |
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Was not showing hot on the gauge ?
was there water left in the header tank ?
I would want to know if the contamination could have affected Alternator other electrics.
AFAIK - the main reason for the pressure is to raise the boiling point ( and stop coolant Loss )
ATB Agriv8
Taller than your average Guy !
Management is like a tree of monkeys. - Those at the top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. BUT Those at the bottom look up and see a
tree full of a*seholes .............
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 09:32 AM |
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I'd not be a happy bunny (but would have opened the bonnet the day I bought it too, but I can see you'd normally assume it'd be
OK!).
Personally I'd expect it to have overheated and you may well not have known about it (with no water contacting the coolant sensor the dash
won't show the correct temp).
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r1_pete
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 12:27 PM |
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If its French or Italian, I'd be very worried about head gasket failure, they seem bad enough when well serviced...
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 01:03 PM |
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suprised it didn't overheat tbh you must have had the heater well on
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britishtrident
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 04:19 PM |
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It all depends how much coolant was lost, and the type of engine some engines completely airlock if any coolant was lost others will quite happily
pump water around if there is enough coolant to keep the water pump primed.
The coolant gauge on the dash will work if the sensor is covered by coolant or not but it isn' really a temperature gauge in the normal sense.
On most modern the gauge is driven by what the engine ECU wants yo to see which means it will remain firmly showing "N" at all
temperatures between 75c and 115c so if the coolinging system isn't under pressure the gauge can be showing Normal but all the coolant is
boiling away.
A good indication that coolnt is not circulating is the heater if the heater is working sufficent coolant is circulating to avoid damage.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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prawnabie
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 04:23 PM |
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Is it a Nissan by any chance? We have at least 10 unregistered Nissans arrive daily and 50% of them are missing parts, usually a cap of some
description.
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 04:51 PM |
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quote:
The coolant gauge on the dash will work if the sensor is covered by coolant or not
Not in my experience with two overheated cars, they showed COLD when run in an air lock.
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clairetoo
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 05:51 PM |
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Hang on.....you drove a car smelling of hot coolant for a week , and didnt think to look under the bonnet ?
I cant imagine owning a car for that long without at least having a look to familiarize myself with the normal fluid (screen wash , coolant ,
oil.....) top-up points..........
Its cuz I is blond , innit
Claire xx
Will weld for food......
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Matt21
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 05:52 PM |
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people buy from dealers expecting a car thats great, when in fact, the people that work there are no different from yourselfs, they are not experts!
trust no body! theyre all bloody useless!
I would tell them that your not happy, explain to them why the system needs to be pressurized and that this will have caused damage to the engine and
you want it replacing for a brand new one, or better still a brand new car at no cost to yourself
if they dont and there are problems down the line due to it then youre buggered if theres no warrenty etc
i wouldnt trust a car dealer with anything! I would much rather pay an old man half the price to work on my cars in a little garage in the
countryside.
My mate gets his car serviced by VW, and the amount of times its come back with something wrong! the best being the oil filter screwed on at some
mental angle! not even remotely sealed and all the threads damaged!
and this is just with servicing!! a monkey could service a car without bleeping it up!
Just because people work at the dealers doesnt make them experts with cars
I've been to a few to look around cars and they look at me as though im mental when i ask em to pop the bonnet! then they look terried when i
start messing on with dipsticks, coolant caps and oil caps! I feel like just telling them to bugger off and let me decide if the car is fucked or not
myself
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Matt21
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 05:55 PM |
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also.. name and shame!!
if it was a garage that worked on you're car you would tell people to avoid them, dealers are no different!
[Edited on 18/3/14 by Matt21]
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GaryM
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 06:40 PM |
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It's not a conventional diesel engine and not being familar with the smell of burning coolant I was initally happy with the explanation from the
salesman.
The engine has a radiator filler/cap AND a coolant expansion tank (also with filler/cap), so during my initial new car engine inspection I did clock
the 'present and correct' expansion cap but not the missing (and slightly less obviously positioned) radiator filler cap. Most of my
previous cars only had a filler/cap on the expansion tank.
When I discovered the missing radiator filling cap I noticed that the expansion tank was still full to max i.e. the coolant in the expansion tank had
not replaced the coolant lost from the system? I guess thats the difference between an expansion tank and a header tank.
The level of the coolant in the radiator was still above the martix tubes so unless there was a big airlock somewhere in the cooling system I guess it
hadn't lost more than a pint or so. So im hoping BristishTrident's second senario applies in this instance.
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Peteff
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 07:07 PM |
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If a new car overheats a big light on the dashboard comes on telling you to STOP and there are engine management systems to put you into limp
home mode. If none of this has happened I would not worry too much about it and just carry on using it.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 07:20 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
If a new car overheats a big light on the dashboard comes on telling you to STOP and there are engine management systems to put you into limp
home mode. If none of this has happened I would not worry too much about it and just carry on using it.
Ahh such trust!
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JoelP
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 07:31 PM |
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I drove leeds to Hull and back with no radiator cap on, at a serious speed, and only lost half a pint of coolant.
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Agriv8
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 08:25 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by GaryM
It's not a conventional diesel engine and not being familar with the smell of burning coolant I was initally happy with the explanation from the
salesman.
The engine has a radiator filler/cap AND a coolant expansion tank (also with filler/cap), so during my initial new car engine inspection I did clock
the 'present and correct' expansion cap but not the missing (and slightly less obviously positioned) radiator filler cap. Most of my
previous cars only had a filler/cap on the expansion tank.
When I discovered the missing radiator filling cap I noticed that the expansion tank was still full to max i.e. the coolant in the expansion tank had
not replaced the coolant lost from the system? I guess thats the difference between an expansion tank and a header tank.
The level of the coolant in the radiator was still above the martix tubes so unless there was a big airlock somewhere in the cooling system I guess it
hadn't lost more than a pint or so. So im hoping BristishTrident's second senario applies in this instance.
If there was fluid above the matrix recon you will be ok. I wander if the ecu fault codes if written back would be useful.
You need some answers from the dealership and a chef mechanic along the lines what would they do if it was there new car that the dealer had done this
to!
Don't be fobbed off and good luck
agriv8
Taller than your average Guy !
Management is like a tree of monkeys. - Those at the top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. BUT Those at the bottom look up and see a
tree full of a*seholes .............
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ashg
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| posted on 18/3/14 at 09:16 PM |
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I wouldn't worry. If you had cooked it you would know about it, as it would be in the dealers waiting for a new engine/repairs. most new cars
have a coolant level sensor so it will moan at you if its too low. the coolant in the bay will just be what its kicked out through normal expansion.
i have seen friends cars run with no coolant in the header tank and they have been fine once topped up. no water is where the problems start!
Anything With Tits or Wheels Will cost you MONEY!!
Haynes Roadster (Finished)
Exocet (Finished & Sold)
New Project (Started)
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