Aygo issues...

[Raeman]

Hi all, Raeman here, been a long time member of the Yaris forum, did have an Auris for a brief spell and now have an Aygo.

Here's the thing. 

My car is a 2005 (55) reg Aygo sport 1.0, fsh, 87k.

had the car approx 3 weeks and bought it cheap as it needed a few jobs and general tidying up.

Typical Aygo things, I've changed the headlight due to condensation staining, fitted a new water pump, fitted a new radiator and now have a new manivertor as the manifold is cracked and is making a loud rattle under load, it's cracked at the left side exhaust port leaking gasses.

not yet fitted the manivertor but will do this week.

question is, after refilling the radiator and coolant bottle the car seems to be using lots of coolant.

i remove the radiator cap and it needs a cup full of coolant to bring it up to level.

run the car for 20 mins or so, let it cool and when I check the rad level again it needs another cup full to bring to level.

coolant in the bottle is fine, level stays the same, also at the moment it's up on ramps in my garage as the front end is removed and I can clearly see there is no coolant leaking underneath.

bit puzzled really and can't seem to find out if the level in the radiator should be full to the cap or a few inches low.

can anybody shed light on this? it's driving me mad.

[alan333]

Radiator should be full, expansion tank should be within the min/max marks.  Ensure you have the heater set to max temp, or it won't bleed properly.

Why did you change the water punp and the rad?  Maybe it was hiding something more sinister?

[eygo]

i always use to remove the temp transmitter from the top of the engine when refilling with coolant

as 99% of the air could escape from the system,then after a week it would need a small topup.

as alan has said make sure your heater is set to max as the heater matrix can trap air and it will

take a while for this air to escape.

[Cyker]

Eeek, any sign of mayonnaise in the oil filler cap?

A common cause of mysterious cooland loss is head gasket failure!

 

That said, how much coolant did you put in?

When I had my waterpump changed my mechanic noted that he had expected more to go in and to keep an eye on it. It would drop a bit after every journey so I kept a bottle of the pink coolant it in the boot for a while to top it up until it stopped dropping. 

 

[Raeman]

Thanks for the replies,

Water pump was leaking coolant underneath, there was dried coolant on the belt plus when I removed the belt (as I thought it was alternator bearings were grumbling) the water pump housing had slight play when moved by hand and was sounding rough when spinning free.

The radiator was changed because when I took the bumper off there was loads of coolant on the bottom panel, a quick check revealed the rad was rotted along the bottom.

i am being paranoid about possible head gasket failure but there isn't much info about them failing, I'm led to believe it doesn't happen often but as we know it can happen to any engine I suppose but I'm pretty sure that isn't the case and is just an air lock somewhere.

the heaters are working fine both hot and cold on all settings

there is Mayo in the filler cap but that's because the car is being run on a fast tick over in the garage whilst I'm testing things. Once the manivertor is fitted I can get the bumper on and take it on a long run.

i will top the rad up again, the coolant bottle is keeping to its full level so I'm presuming it's as simple as an air lock.

Cheers.

 

[Raeman]

Hi all, just a quick update.

Car is fine now, no loss of coolant, all levels staying ok.

possible air lock but I've covered a few hundred miles since and all is well.

must admit I do like the car much more than I thought I would so already thinking of some black 15" wheels (maybe some banded steels) and some lowering springs.

wouldnt mind knowing if Yaris TS seats will fit, if anyone knows or has done this i'd be grateful.😉

[Planemo]

Black wheels look good on Aygos but then I am biased :)

 

[Planemo]

The pic is shown on coilovers, it was previously on Eibachs which I still have and you may be able to twist my arm if you are interested ;)