I have had my magna for 5 months now and love it. Never thought i would join an online club about it though.
Now I need some help and i really didnt know where to look, so here i am.
My TS is losing water whenever I drive. Thought it might be the water pump, but can't
find it (which is why i am such an amateur!) Looked for a manual but unable to locate
one of them either :headbange
I have never really done much work myself on a motor, other than changing hoses and a radiator, so it is
all a bit new. But I am sick of getting ripped off and am sure I can do
this myself. lol
So in advance i thank you

I'm over from the US so still not sure what generation the TS is... If its a 3rd gen though you might want to check your heatercore (its located up above the ecu which is tucked nicely behind your radio or there abouts :D) just reach up in there and feel around for any dampness. If it is get it fixed asap cos that can get dangerous.

Another way to source a leak in the coolant is to put a capful of cinnimon powder into the radiator, it'll plug the leak and give off that distinct cinnimony smell so you can track it down easier...

Of course its also summer over there, sure you're not just over using your A/C?

First off, welcome to AMC, where all the discerning car enthusiasts are lol

Hope you get lots of good info and fun.

How is the cars temp while you're driving

Make sure you've got coolant in the car like dpack said, the green water is easier to see when it leaks. You could have a dud radiator cap or slightly loose hoses or a weak gasket or leaky heater core or a number of other things you really dont wanna think about. :)

Give all your radiator hoses a tighten, check how your rad cap looks (they're pretty cheap to replace) and have a good look around for traces of coolant. Check your oil to see if it has a milky appearance, if it does post that in this thread.

Make sure you keep topping it up (not when its real hot) until you find the source. :D

Hi, welcome to AMC

It could be a few things, speaking from experience from owning a TS and losing water.
Check all hoses, they can become swallon and begin to tear, they can also become brittle.

Check that you have the correct radiator cap and check the bottom plug on the radiator to make sure its sealed.
You may need to do a pressure test on the radiator to ensure that that its not leaking too.
Also check that the radiator overflow bottle is well sealed and that the lid has not cracked as this can release pressure that is required for the flow from radiator to overflow bottle even with the smallest crack in the lid u will lose a lot of water.

You should also test the head gasket or consider renewing your thermostat (thermostat renewal is a fairly easy and cheap job, you could probably do it yourself) definately try to find a service manual for the ts asap too, very helpful. :)

dude, if you have milky oil... bad news, i had that and eventually found out that i had cracked the block and all the time this was pressurising the water and i blew all the patches off of my radiator, bad news, very bad news... but it might be a cracked head if its milky, im sure it isnt that though, that is an extreme.

thanks for the ideas. :) definitely not milky oil, sure glad about that!
the radiator cap is new and i checked it worked by droping it in hot
water and it opened up so that worked.
The temp when driving doesnt go up past half way unless i drive further
than normal (normal being about 40-50ks distance).
I always top up the water with coolant befor i leave home and have started
topping up again when i leave work, about 30kms drive, most of the time
it only takes about 500ml, but ive noticed it has started taking abit more,
max of 1litre.
I do use the air con a bit, but the leak is not from the condensed water
from that, it is definitely coolant. But when I use the air con the temp
doesnt go up so much as without using it. :confused:

If its the radiator, try usign one of thoes cheap sealent things... test if that fixes the problem.... if it does you will probably need to get a new radiator core or get it reconditioned...
i had a datsun that had a busted radiator core... every time i drove it i had to fill it with water :rant: coolant would have been to expensive.... and i always had 2L of water Just for the radiator every drive... :cry:

howdy, a good test is to warm the car up and keep a visual on the radiator hoses etc, my car lossed alot of water, one of the main hoses had a small hole, cheap to fix and replace.

Drive it around the block till it gets warm, dont turn heater or aircon on, leave it running on concrete thats clean, check for leaks, should usually have a green color in it from the coolant.

Remember: If you fill the reserve bottle to high it empties the excess water straight away

good luck with it.

russian

welcome to amc, maybe uve got a blockage and all u need to do is give it a service ur self to save labour costs.

this could help a little http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29389

milky oil can be as simple as a bung head gasket, and if you've got the mechanical expertise and the right tools for the job (which i now do courtsey of owning a ed falcon *shakes head*) then do it yourself..

a simple test which i saw an RACV roady guy do was to put a a clear tube where your radiator cap goes, then put water into it and start the motor(well try to start it)

if you see water bubbling up, your head is shot (simple test for compression)..

the good news is, if you fix it.. the milky residue burns away (whats that physics/enviromental term that weather guys use).....

or as the other guys said, could be as simple as a blown hose..... but yeah.. good luck man..

just because the oil is not milky does not mean that there isnt a problem with the head, it could be happening on the combustion side,

Remove the spark plugs, then pressurise the cooling system with a pressure tester and then crank the engine over with the key, if water shots out holes u know where u problem is

i would be more inlclined to check the water pump and hoses first, how much is it leaking

airocn makes the second fan work fulltime so it cools the radiator down. check your intermintant fan it might be gone. it should turn on if after you finish driving home from work and let it idle with aircon off, pop the bonnet and see if it turns on and seems upto speed. happend to me everyone said "cracked head" and i was pesistant on the fan (since aircon kept it cool and no aircon meant heat). i had major cooling issues in my magna but i over came them all in the end.

hope it helps.

If it is a V6 they are known for a small crack in the exhaust port which will leak small amounts and be totally un detectable beside a small loss. You will not have milky oil from this.

Do a pressure test first. This may tell you about the pressure loss which with luck you will see the puddle.

The pump on the 6 is under the timing covers. On the 4 it is on the rh side of the motor, has a small belt of a pully at the end of the cam that drives it.

I have same problem. The Verada is a V6. I tracked the leak down to somewhere between the heads. The water pools in the valley. The large water pipe that runs along the valley has been replaced. No water loss from any aother place. Could it be the inlet manifold that has sprung a hole?

Could possibly be the same as what happend to me....

Mine was loosing water for a while....

Then driving down Marion rd the temp went sky high
Pulled over toped up overflow....

then babow steam all over the place, and yeah staped the top radaitor hose...

$130 later, less than trade price and she was fixed ;)

Being a courier, take it from me DO NOT wait when it comes to your cooling system. It will only cost you more in the longer term.

If I was you...... I would go and get it checked out with a radiator mob, get a quote and tell em your getting a 2nd quote before you go ahead.

Once fixed..... look after your coolant and it will look after you.

dunno if this will help, but i had a similar problem up until yesterday. my car was going way past half way then dropping again, I thought it might be the themostat, but then i found a broken t section bit on the lid of the overflow bottle. $6 later from mitsubishi and a bottle of coolant and shes good as gold. I went to the wreckers chasing these overflow bottle lids and they were all broken so i assume its a fairly common thing. My radiator just couldnt suck up any coolant from the overflow bottle. Good luck though.

Again as I said, pressure test the thing, have said this many times.

It is all good to sit here and make 300 guesses, of which 301 of them will be wrong, then your car cooks and you say "why did anyone not tell me about this bit" :nuts:

i have the same problem with my ts..first, my rad hose was replaced,but still leaking water,but i found the problem the other day.....water pump is stuffed..i bought one from aussie auto's for $92....BUT.....the problem is putting it in...my mechanic told me to take the passenger side engine mount off, plus a few other bits just to get to it....good luck...go and see a mechanic to see if that is what is wrong.

Of course its also summer over there, sure you're not just over using your A/C?

Just on that note there, would that explain why I noticed some clear water type fluid dripping yesterday, just condensation from the A/C?

i have the same problem with my ts..first, my rad hose was replaced,but still leaking water,but i found the problem the other day.....water pump is stuffed..i bought one from aussie auto's for $92....BUT.....the problem is putting it in...my mechanic told me to take the passenger side engine mount off, plus a few other bits just to get to it....good luck...go and see a mechanic to see if that is what is wrong.

Yeah the water pump in the v6 is run by the timing belt, not a huge job when you have done it a few times though, easier than a 3rd gen as more room and parts are smaller