Tee Tee

Hi all

Just bought a 2.4 cabriolet last week.
My coolant needs topping up like every 3 days. Can't see any signs of coolant coming out the engine anywhere, and temperature is sitting at just above 90.

Also noticed that my interior heaters are not getting hot now.

Can anyone point me in the right direction.. Cheers

John535is

Start with the simple fixes first.
Is the blue cap sealing tight? A bad seal on the cap will generally not be noticed, the temperature will be OK while the engine is running, but a few minutes after you stop, the heat pressure will build up in the reservoir, if the cap seal is not tight, it will empty out the overflow hose down the side of the engine compartment which you may not notice. new caps are cheap aftermarket, I find about 10 years is time to replace.

If you can, park on some clean concrete or better yet, over a sheet of cardboard after the engine has been running at temperature, grab a flashlight and check for signs of water keep looking for up to 5 minutes as the heat soak when the engine if off will increase the pressure. Check the bleeder hose you may find it emptying out down under the engine. If you still have the plastic under belly tray you may see some coolant collecting, if not, it will drip onto the cardboard which helps locate where the leak is. Hopefully you will find a split hose or the cap, easy fix.

Assuming the heater was working until this problem started, you probably just need to bleed the heater core. Because these engines sit low its possible to get air in the heater core and normal running won't bleed it out. Check the heater hoses that go through the fire wall from the engine, one should have a white line and a circle. This is actually a bleed hole. When the engine is cold, undo the hose clamp and wiggle the hose about half way off exposing the bleed hole to the coolant. Start the engine, turn the heater controls to full. After a few minutes the thermostat will open, warm water will flow into the heater which will bleed the air out and you should get a little fountain of water out the hole. Not a gusher so dont panic. This also proves your water pump is working and the thermostat is opening, slide the hose back into position (it will be hot - use gloves) and tighten the hose clamp or locate it on the line if its a spring type. Then bleed the engine at the top bleeder screw.

If this does not fix the problem come back, we can then start investigating other problems like head gaskets, water pumps, thermostats etc but hopefully its a simple fix. Same for the heater, they can get clogged, thermostat failure etc but with any luck its just air.