Forgot to mention this when it happened... I was driving back to UK in May and did the usual 'first parade' checks before setting out. Topped up the oil as it was a tad low, filled the screenwash and also noticed the coolant level was slightly low...
Now my coolant on the 'new' Cougar has always been a bit 'muddy' in appearance, but it works fine. I'd heard somewhere that using distilled water was better than tap water and realised that our condenser tumble drier reservoir was full of just that. So I used a cupful to top the expansion tank off. From the bottle my wife uses to fill the steam iron.
Two hours into the journey - at a steady 68mph at night for max economy - just crossing into Belgium, the coolant light came on. Five minutes later I was able to pull into a filling station and have a look.
No coolant.
Instead, the expansion tank was full of foam!
Two in the morning in Belgium is not the ideal place for a breakdown so I filled the tank with water, displacing as much foam as possible. Waited 15 minutes, turned the engine over, switched off and did it again... The excess water and gungy foam was expelled through the overflow pipe as I'd hoped, as there was no way of seeing the fill marks.
Then I crossed my fingers and continued to Dunkirk with the radio off, listening very carefully to the engine and with a very careful eye on the temp needle. On Inspection at Dunkirk, the water appeared very contaminated and smelled very nasty but at the correct level. On I went to UK, straight to a QuickFit in Worthing at 08.00 which was the only garage able to book me in immediately without an appointment. Thank you smart phone Apps.
I'd already suspected the dreaded HG failure, but there was no 'mayonnaise' in the oil and the coolant/water wasn't greasy as it would be if oil was migrating into the coolant... Just very manky...
We flushed the coolant system twice and refilled with fresh fluid.
Apart from an immediate top-up due to an air bubble in the system, the level hasn't dropped since.
My theory - which I posed to the guys at QF was that there must have been a trace of laundry detergent in the bottle my wife stores her ironing water in. The heat and pressure did the rest.
My coolant still isn't the lovely clear amber colour that my old Cougar's coolant was, but it's a lot less muddy than it used to be, so maybe using Ariel to flush the system is ok after all!
Or not. In any case I'm resolved to changing the coolant on the annual services from now on...
Now my coolant on the 'new' Cougar has always been a bit 'muddy' in appearance, but it works fine. I'd heard somewhere that using distilled water was better than tap water and realised that our condenser tumble drier reservoir was full of just that. So I used a cupful to top the expansion tank off. From the bottle my wife uses to fill the steam iron.
Two hours into the journey - at a steady 68mph at night for max economy - just crossing into Belgium, the coolant light came on. Five minutes later I was able to pull into a filling station and have a look.
No coolant.
Instead, the expansion tank was full of foam!
Two in the morning in Belgium is not the ideal place for a breakdown so I filled the tank with water, displacing as much foam as possible. Waited 15 minutes, turned the engine over, switched off and did it again... The excess water and gungy foam was expelled through the overflow pipe as I'd hoped, as there was no way of seeing the fill marks.
Then I crossed my fingers and continued to Dunkirk with the radio off, listening very carefully to the engine and with a very careful eye on the temp needle. On Inspection at Dunkirk, the water appeared very contaminated and smelled very nasty but at the correct level. On I went to UK, straight to a QuickFit in Worthing at 08.00 which was the only garage able to book me in immediately without an appointment. Thank you smart phone Apps.
I'd already suspected the dreaded HG failure, but there was no 'mayonnaise' in the oil and the coolant/water wasn't greasy as it would be if oil was migrating into the coolant... Just very manky...
We flushed the coolant system twice and refilled with fresh fluid.
Apart from an immediate top-up due to an air bubble in the system, the level hasn't dropped since.
My theory - which I posed to the guys at QF was that there must have been a trace of laundry detergent in the bottle my wife stores her ironing water in. The heat and pressure did the rest.
My coolant still isn't the lovely clear amber colour that my old Cougar's coolant was, but it's a lot less muddy than it used to be, so maybe using Ariel to flush the system is ok after all!
Or not. In any case I'm resolved to changing the coolant on the annual services from now on...