I seem to be topping up my water fairly often!! Could it just be the fact that my header tank is situated far to low?
Surely it needs to be above the height of the rad and engine?
Here's a pic;


Description

Does water flow through the tank, if it does then its to low.

If it is only fed by that black 1/4" id tube then its an expansion tank!

Assuming its an expansion tank unless the little pipe goes to the bottom of the tank it will not work as the engine will not suck the water back, just boil it off, has it a dip pipe?

Regards Mark

[Edited on 23/12/11 by mark chandler]

OK I will go first.
Header should be above the highest point of the cooling sytem on engine, (mine is thermostat housing, x/flow). I would suggest that you have a leak somewhere within the system if you are losing water, to state the obvious. Head gasket? Is the expansion bottle pressurising? Do you get clouds of steam as It is warming up? If the expansion bottle has an overflow outlet I would place a container onto it to see if it is being lost that way. The expansion bottle should only be filled to the level of the highest point of the engine and not all the way to the top.
Sorry if this is all a bit obvious but starting from basics is usually the best place to start from.

Oopps someone got in 1st so I will go 2nd then.

[Edited on 23/12/11 by spiderman]

Some good pointers there. Currently the Mk is off the ground (see Mk Indy pics in archive) under going a an early spring clean. I will check out those ideas when the battery is hooked back up..

All the above is great info but the only thing I would add is if you know of a friendly garage that could do you a sniff test on the water just in case the head gasket is starting to go??

Cheers

Rich

if its an expansion tank it can go at any height.

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Originally posted by franky
if its an expansion tank it can go at any height.

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