Ongoing issues with my grand voyager. It's an 02 and and auto. It was loosing water and diagnosed with a hole in the radiator. Replaced and all good for a week and then more water under the engine. New water pump fitted as this was the cause and all good, three weeks later the top hose split and is being replaced later today.

Any ideas what's causing this or is it simply a few related bits caused by the loss of water?

I also have very limited hot air from the heater if that helps?

 

I'm into classic cars and so stuff like this is normal to me. Sometimes what you will find in situations like this is that act of replacing one item can disturb others. For example your top hose may have been only weeks away from failing anyway, but the action of removing the radiator which would have required it to be removed has hastened its demise.

Although personally, at this point I'd go around all of the hoses and give them a squeeze. If they feel crunchy or there are apparent weak areas then I'd replace those too.

As for the heater this could be down to an air lock! Again squeezing the hoses will help move this along as I'm not aware of any special bleeding procedures for the Voyage.

 

There used to be a name for old cars that kept going wrong with one damned thing after another -- it was called "planned obsolescence" -- an american phrase. Today we have a new one -- "economic write-off".

Leedsman.

 

As helpful as that was intended to be, it doesn't solve my problem, particularly as the problem is part of the cooling system as per the last two issues

 

as any fluid based system the weakest link will fail. U fix that link then adds pressure to the other systems and they weak link fails. No fix to it but to correct the issue at hand. WIth the hole in the radiator it was not able to build up pressure in the engine so once that was fixed now pressure in the system and u spring a leak.

 

Do you think this is the start of lots of problems? Or just the worn weaker links failing and now replaced all will be ok? Or is there a pressure problem and if so what should I be looking for?

 

its a 12 year old car stuff will wear out

 

Might want to check the radiator cap and make sure it's releasing pressure correctly.

 

There comes a point in running a commonplace vehicle when the economics don't add up.

This doesn't apply to "specialist" vintage vehicles such as E-type Jags. etc. But when your ordinary vehicle goes past the 100,000mile mark* you have to consider with every repair, "is it worth it"? Would it make more economic sense to get shot of it and buy another?

Things have changed in the motoring world: Repair costs nowadays are much heavier than they used to be, and nowhere near as well executed -- this being one of the main reasons websites like this exist. On top of this there are now so many regulations that have to be maintained at MOT time, economics raises its ugly head once again.

The buying pattern of new common cars has also changed vis-a-vis economics. Most of these are not in fact bought at all -- they are leased. They are very heavily used for three years usually doing something like 150,000mile, and then sold as "one-owner" cars before the MOT is due. They are sold with an MOT of course by car dealers, but no-one in the business believes either the mileage on the clock or the MOT!

Leedsman.
*In 1960s America, one president of a car corporation, maybe Chrysler, said "a car with 100,000mile on the clock -- who would want it"? And that's in a country where very long commuter journeys are commonplace.

 

Borrow or rent a pressure tester [RAD cap, hose and gauge]. Look at your existing RAD cap it might well say what pressure it should operate at. Make sure the fluid levels are right and take your time it takes a while to build up the pressure in the system. #5 is good fact. Just put 15psi and no more on it - and you will hear or see the leak immediately - if the needle does not move at 15psi you don'y [yet] have a new leak. , he goes on to deal with with air flow and fan issues etc.