Help! - Pre-Nullarbor Coolant Bogey

The coolant bogeyman has struck.


Was checking my fluids before I head off on Sunday.
My expansion tank is completely empty.
I can see dried coolant sitting around the top of the expansion tank.

No cluster warnings and I have driven the car 800km in the last week.

The cooling system was replaced a year ago, so I have new expansion tank, cap, hoses etc...

No signs of leaks anywhere else, no puddles.
I am pretty sure this is a slow leak, as I noticed coolant sitting on the expansion tank around a couple of months ago, and then forgot about it.

My suspicion is that the expansion tank cap is not sealing properly as everything seems to originate from the cap.

Please see the attached photos. All of the dried coolant is sitting around the top of the tank. The coolant sitting near the bleed screw is not from the screw, it has spilt there from the top of the tank.

I have got a new expansion tank cap in my spares box. I can top the tank up and change the cap.

Thoughts?

I guess all you can do is clean it all off, try a new cap and monitor it on a daily basis. A system pressure test may also be helpful.

I topped up the tank and changed the cap. Everything seems fine.
I will monitor it for a while and see what happens.

Good luck with your road trip today. I hope a new cap solves this problem permanently. Can't be very confidence inspiring when this happens right before a long road trip!!! Drive safe, and have a blast!

You'll be fine. Likely happened after a while cos all the air bubbles finally cleared out of the system. It's really not that low.
I've seen a fanantic with the coolant low enough the floating stick wet so far down the shaft it never surfaced again after filling it