Hi Lads, Think I have a coolant leak, Rusty colour liquid was on the driveway from in front of the back right wheel, I checked everything and then came to the coolant which has the same colour on the rubber tube when I opened it up, The car doesnt seem to be over heating but now wondering what the FU*K to do for sundays fermanagh run, would it be unwise to go? and could this be a big job or is it most likely a loose hose. I rang my mechanic and he's said he'll drop out this evening and have a quick look but he's at a stags this weekend so a look is all he'll probably be able to do.

Not sure on Rev 3, but for Rev 2 that is near where the thermostat is located. Could be a thermostat, o-ring, or hose. Not a huge problem, but would need to be sorted without driving your car too much or you risk overheating etc.

edit: it's also where 3sgte blocks can fail, however unless you bought that 500hp turbo kit, you probably don't have that problem ..

Is the expansion bottle over that side if it is that would explain where the water came from. After that, the next thing to check is why would it blow out some water.

So things to check AFAIK are:

Did you do anything to the coolant system in the last couple of days.

Did you add coolant recently.

Was there any chance of an airlock in the pipework working itself out of the system.

Did you leave the car running for a prolonged time on the driveway thus causing it to heat the coolant to boiling point thus overflowing out of the expansion bottle.

It is normal for an engine to reach its highest temperatures when you stop after a hard drive and then push out some excess coolant.

What is the status on your thermostat, I havn't done this on an MR2 yet so can't point you in any direction. But basically you let the car go cold, find the thermostat location and then run the car up to temperature checking for when the outlet from the thermostat starts to get hot, this means it has opened and once the temperature guage is ok it indicates that the stat is ok.

Do a sniffer test for head gasket failure.
Or worse still
The hose from hell.

What MR2 is it, turbo rev etc.

Its a 95 turbo, Yes I actually put coolant in last weekend, didnt leave the car running or anything like that, but the coolant bottle is on the left side(passenger) and no sign of overflow etc and I dont drive it hard at all, im only 15mins away from work so i wouldnt drive it much longer than that apart from the meets etc aarrgggggg

Was the coolant level low when you added more in, was the engine hot or cold when you put it in.
Did you add it in the expansion bottle and to what level did you fill it.

Yes it was fairly low, which makes me think maybe it had leaked out somewhere like work and when i added in the new bottle that ive just noticed it more on my driveway, engine was cold when i added it, is the expansion bottle just the coolant bottle? I put in just over half a litre, I check my oil, water, ps fluid, washer etc every two weeks because I was told turbos would burn oil, but oil is always perfect, really annoyed hopefully the brother in law will be able to spot something obvious and inexpensive tonight but i'll mention to him all the points yis have said

The hose from hell (aka HFH) is located between the turbo charger and the block. It's pretty hard to see but as Ray says it can also be a source of coolant probs.

Did the coolant spray there or did it make it's way there from a slow leak? if you can work that out you are one step closer to fixing it.

A good nose around the engine bay with a torch and you should be able to trace the route of the leak.
Hopefully its something simple, good luck with it.

Thanks lads, fingers crossed i get it sorted before sunday

Hi Lads, no leaks in around the engine but its actually coming from under the car just in front of the engine, aka hose from hell, so looks like its going to be cut and re-joined using 19mm rubber, reason for this is that ive been told its a very common problem on mr2's and not guaranteed it couldnt happen again if i replace the whole thing, plus the new tubing wouldnt rust and would be really durable, also means tank wont have to be droped and tubing can be fed up into the engine bay, so for now just have to keep topping up the rad and coolant and will be fixed next weds / thurs evening meaning im out of the fermanagh trip, not too happy but wouldnt be worth risking the long drive, thanks for all the help and suggestions. think ill go searching topics on this aswell and see what other lads did

Ah, shat that anyhugh.

At least it found there will alway be another drive, if you were looking for an engine, that would have been another kettle of fish. But Quandry would finally be rid of that long block of his

Yeh, its my brother in law thats the mechanic so he reckons it will just be an evening work, evryones suggestions were making feel a bit queezy with regards to how wrong something could go so im happy enough now, gutted about the trip but would be more gutted if i did f&ck up the engine, I found a few links on the other mr2 sites with how to fix it aswell and the rubber hose seems to be a good idea, i'll post a few of the liks up

Sounds like exactly the problem I had. Except my temperatures were going all over the shop! It turned out to be the heater matrix pipes which go underneath the fuel tank so its going to be fuel tank out for me! On the up side I can finally get my Walbro fuel pump fitted along with my Aeromotive FPR! I'm going down the rubber hose route myself too. Think I might ask him to replace the hose from hell while he's got everything off.

i got one too think my rad has gone more money and car is off road and problems just keep happening

I'll let you know how he finds fixing it, i've topped up with a shite load of coolant, and have some in the rad aswell, im only 15 mins from work so no danger of overheating, and the apexi fc shows me the temps aswell so havent seen any change at all on that or the orig temp guage

Quick update: small hole in the pipe, he showed me a video of it, were gonna price new pipes but if their too dear we'll go with the tubing, so happy with that, was still plenty of coolant in it after topping it up a week ago so will hopefully fix it in 2 or 3 weeks, he also gave the car a good inspection, said links will need replacing at some stage down the road but otherwise a "minter" THANK GOD

Hi, I'm sorry to resurrect an old thread but I had an unusual coolant leak happen to me today and I wondered if I could pick yer brains about it. Story is ->

The temp gauge today ran hot and nearly into the red. I noticed this early and pulled in. Only drove literally 5mins. Popped the bonnet and the coolant hoses were ROASTING ?!? Strolled home got water, came back filled her up, drove home this time no issues. Quick question WHERE DID ALL THE COOLANT GO?
I've been everywhere in the car including Newry, Drogheda, Clare and Dublin 3 times. No hassle?
Do mr2's burn through coolant that isnt ForLife? I only ask as new car and I cant be sure, the water does'nt look too red I know it sounds like a leak but I cant seem to find one nor is my drive-in marked with even a single drop
Thanks

Cashy wrote:
Hi, I'm sorry to resurrect an old thread but I had an unusual coolant leak happen to me today and I wondered if I could pick yer brains about it. Story is ->

The temp gauge today ran hot and nearly into the red. I noticed this early and pulled in. Only drove literally 5mins. Popped the bonnet and the coolant hoses were ROASTING ?!? Strolled home got water, came back filled her up, drove home this time no issues. Quick question WHERE DID ALL THE COOLANT GO?
I've been everywhere in the car including Newry, Drogheda, Clare and Dublin 3 times. No hassle?
Do mr2's burn through coolant that isnt ForLife? I only ask as new car and I cant be sure, the water does'nt look too red I know it sounds like a leak but I cant seem to find one nor is my drive-in marked with even a single drop
Thanks
It looks like you have a leak if there is no visable water cheak headgasket dip the oil

The reason there was no water visable was cos it JUST happened an I posted straight away
Lookin at the hoses today I found the leak. Thank God its only a little hose. So nothing major, I'll just order a replacement. A little stone cut it
How random is that!!!!!!!!
Gonna flush out the entire system as I'm at it.
VERY RUSTY