Coolant problem

[Dazzer]

Has anyone had a problem with the westfield heater leaking coolant out all over the inside of the engine bay, its not coming out in a spray but seaping out of the corner of the heater unit on passenger side...........gonna look to take pipes and case off tomorrow morning but dont know what i'll be able to do if its the main heater and not just a straight forward pipe / clamp problem, anyone got some advice. I lost about half a pint driving 15 miles.

[paintman]

I had a similar problem with the Hood dropping coolant onto the passengers legs.....daughter not impressed!!!

Don't know what heater you have in it but on the Sierra one i have fitted, i ended up by-passing the heater matrix which is probably leaking in the engine bay as a temporary solution till it was changed.

This was easily done with 15mm copper pipe pushed into the heater hoses and compression joints as used in plumbing.   I used 2 tee joints on the inlet and exit pipes from the heater with a service valve (used with screw driver) on the inlet pipe so the water by-passed the heater matrix when the service valve was turned to off.

This isolated the heater and the problem till it was sorted but i ended up leaving all the "plumbing" on there as i can turn off the heater completely in the summer keeping your legs cooler. (the Hood gets very warm from the engine bay).......paint the pipe matt black and you won't see it!

HERE ENDETH THE BODGE OF THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    tony

[robp]

Has anyone had a problem with the westfield heater leaking coolant out all over the inside of the engine bay, its not coming out in a spray but seaping out of the corner of the heater unit on passenger side...........gonna look to take pipes and case off tomorrow morning but dont know what i'll be able to do if its the main heater and not just a straight forward pipe / clamp problem, anyone got some advice. I lost about half a pint driving 15 miles.

Bearing in mind you have a trackday at Combe on Friday, I may be inclined to bypass the heater for now.  You'll not want any potential cooling system issues at the circuit.  Then after the event, you'll have next weekend to start looking for a leak.  Just my opinion...  

[Richardp]

Do you need the heater? If its a summer car, then you might want to think about getting rid of it, it's heavy, and full of water (also heavy). If you can't do without, then if yours is leaking, you could look at little heater units that are about 80mm square, with an 80mm fan. It's not a big area to heat, so you should be able to get away with 2 of those.

The only benift I see to a full size heater, would be extra cooling.

[paintman]

Has anyone had a problem with the westfield heater leaking coolant out all over the inside of the engine bay, its not coming out in a spray but seaping out of the corner of the heater unit on passenger side...........gonna look to take pipes and case off tomorrow morning but dont know what i'll be able to do if its the main heater and not just a straight forward pipe / clamp problem, anyone got some advice. I lost about half a pint driving 15 miles.

You sorted it yet Dazzer???

[Dazzer]

Not yet, i took it all apart, it looked like one of the o rings had moved so reseated them and after a short test drive no more leak,  sorted, so i thought. Castle combe commute showed some drops so carried on with the first session only to have the side of the car covered in coolant, i just kept topping it up all day and used a litre in total  I'm going to get 2 new o rings, if that doesn't work then it looks like its going to have to be a bypass rather than replace the heater, that way i'll have more money for another track day