Yes well said Tony I should have picked up on this bit of advice.tony wrote:It may be worth a trip to a local garage and to get them to pressure test the cooling system.It's not a big job,a little pump replaces the radiator cap and the system is pressurised.With the motor not going it may be possible to see or even hear any leaks.Good luck!!
I bought a pressure tester at the autojumble at the Coleford Carnival of Transport this year (held every Easter Monday, Town Centre and car Parks closed for the day to be filled with vehicles ...... and its all free ). I had been mulling over investing in an SP kit but at between £130 and £180 depending upon specification I could not justify the investment. When I spotted this lovely old nickel plated kit for £8 (more or less equivalent to the more expensive one but without the box) I could not get my money out quick enough though I was upset that the seller would not accept £6 (it was an autojumble and you have got to try ..... ).
Used it twice so far.
1. To check out a persistent problem with my neighbour's Jeep. We could not identify whether the persistent fine leak was from the rad. or elsewhere because the front area of the engine is so cluttered and taking it apart is such a pain (thank God I am into Rangies which are much easier to work on). Any way I digress!!
Pumped the cooling system up to pressure and we could clearly identify the leak blowing out of a pin hole in the rad. Changed the rad - pain in the *ss job (horrible car to work on ) but problem solved.
2. Similar problem with the 90. Persistent water loss which seemed to be from the water pump but only evidence was a small patch of water under the car after it had been left standing ...... checked the water pump but nothing obvious. After making up an adaptor for the scew cap for the system I fitted the pressure tester and pumped up to pressure and a leak from water pump showed up immediately.
I am not saying that this bit of kit will solve every cooling problem but worked a treat on these occasions. If we could find a way of getting it to you (I go to Bristol Group Meetings) I would be very happy to lend it to you for a couple of weeks to see if it solves your problem, but postage (PO Parcels, it weighs just under 2lbs/800g) would cost about £12 each way so probably not cost effective.
Ted