Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: cristina on 14 January 2010, 06:39:45
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Can anyone tell me why there is a smell of hot water inside the car? The inside of the car is bone dry and I cannot see any leaks at all from the outside. I have had my hubby look at it from underneath too. The Auxillary belt, Cam cover joints, HBV and thermostat were changed for VX ones because I was told that the VX parts were the best, I will always use VX parts in future for any repairs. The heater core and the rest of the system was pressure flushed out both ways as well until the water ran clean and clear. It has been fully antifreezed. The water circulates as it should, no bubbling in the tank and there are no funny noises. The oil is clean and the filler neck has a tiny amount of very light white film inside it for about an inch. The top up tank is also clean inside. The automatic choke works as it should too, it disengages in a few minutes.
My hubby took the plenum off so he could see better and when I looked there was nothing to see. We did all this with the enginge hot and then cold to see if that made any difference. It didn't!
What can we try next?
cristina
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Are you losing any coolant first question.
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The only time you would get a hot water smell is if the matrix was leaking. does your windows steam up :question
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Again, as already said, are you loosing any engine coolant?
Is the scuttle drain blocked?
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Thank you all for the suggestions but they have all been tried and there are no visible leaks at all as I said.
The scuttle is totally clean because it was taken off to do the HBV. Everything that could be cleaned was.
The car does not steam up inside at all, only when we get in with wet clothes and that soon clears. The carpets, as said, are totally dry right down to the metal floor itself. We use rubber well mats in wet weather and dry any water off them with tissue straight away. The carpets are totally dry under them. In summer (?) we use fabric, not rubber, over mats as a grit protection for the original carpets.
The only other thing I can think of doing is to replace the heater hose's matrix ends, the plastic self locking thingys, with jubilee clips to make certain that the joints are secure.
I have just had another looky underneath and cannot see any evidence of leaks even though I put down some lengths of wallpaper so I could see it better when I had been out for a paper this morning and got the engine hot. The engine temp rarely goes over 85-90.
Haha, come on lads, go on say it, its just being like a 'she' - temperamental.
Joking aside, its issing me off and I am constantly biting my mans bum about it. Have some pity on him.
cristina
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Thank you all for the suggestions but they have all been tried and there are no visible leaks at all as I said.
The scuttle is totally clean because it was taken off to do the HBV. Everything that could be cleaned was.
The car does not steam up inside at all, only when we get in with wet clothes and that soon clears. The carpets, as said, are totally dry right down to the metal floor itself. We use rubber well mats in wet weather and dry any water off them with tissue straight away. The carpets are totally dry under them. In summer (?) we use fabric, not rubber, over mats as a grit protection for the original carpets.
The only other thing I can think of doing is to replace the heater hose's matrix ends, the plastic self locking thingys, with jubilee clips to make certain that the joints are secure.
I have just had another looky underneath and cannot see any evidence of leaks even though I put down some lengths of wallpaper so I could see it better when I had been out for a paper this morning and got the engine hot. The engine temp rarely goes over 85-90.
Haha, come on lads, go on say it, its just being like a 'she' - temperamental.
Might it be worth bypassing the heater matrix completely with a simple joint and see if that stops the smell?
Joking aside, its issing me off and I am constantly biting my mans bum about it. Have some pity on him.
cristina
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Thank you all for the suggestions but they have all been tried and there are no visible leaks at all as I said.
The scuttle is totally clean because it was taken off to do the HBV. Everything that could be cleaned was.
The car does not steam up inside at all, only when we get in with wet clothes and that soon clears. The carpets, as said, are totally dry right down to the metal floor itself. We use rubber well mats in wet weather and dry any water off them with tissue straight away. The carpets are totally dry under them. In summer (?) we use fabric, not rubber, over mats as a grit protection for the original carpets.
The only other thing I can think of doing is to replace the heater hose's matrix ends, the plastic self locking thingys, with jubilee clips to make certain that the joints are secure.
I have just had another looky underneath and cannot see any evidence of leaks even though I put down some lengths of wallpaper so I could see it better when I had been out for a paper this morning and got the engine hot. The engine temp rarely goes over 85-90.
Haha, come on lads, go on say it, its just being like a 'she' - temperamental.
Joking aside, its issing me off and I am constantly biting my mans bum about it. Have some pity on him.
cristina
Fantasies, fantasies.............. :)
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Was ajoke, no way would I go near there without a gasmask on :D
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If you are sure that there are no leaks then i would try to ignor it, but once it gets under your nose it can be annoying i know, please do not replace the heater matrix clips with jubilee clips as the vx ones are desigined to expand slighty with the increase of water temp as the plastic expands too. if you put jubilee on then the plastic will be put under stress and could make them fail early. Please confirm that you are not losing coolant, even the smallest amount, hope this is of some help.
Gary.
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OK, the hose clip idea won't be used. That was a last resort thought because all of the o rings where disturbed ( all transfer pipes) have been replaced with VX new ones.
I am going to put some more paper down tonight and see if there is any signs of a leak at all. I will also take off, or he will, the plenum and scuttle too so everything will be easier to see. Its bugging me cos if you lift the bonnet with the engine hot there is not a sign of any steam or water discolouration stains anywhere. He keeps the underbonnet clean all the time cos he says that the car should be as clean under there as the rest of it. Makes sense I suppose cos working on it is a lot kinder to your hands (do not go there, heard it all before).
I do know for an absolute certainty that the inside of the car is totally bone dry though.
Don't tell me to use Radweld though, lost a motor through that s**t before.
If all else fails I will just have to get a stronger in car smelly or two!
cristina
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Can anyone tell me why there is a smell of hot water inside the car? The inside of the car is bone dry and I cannot see any leaks at all from the outside. I have had my hubby look at it from underneath too. The Auxillary belt, Cam cover joints, HBV and thermostat were changed for VX ones because I was told that the VX parts were the best, I will always use VX parts in future for any repairs. The heater core and the rest of the system was pressure flushed out both ways as well until the water ran clean and clear. It has been fully antifreezed. The water circulates as it should, no bubbling in the tank and there are no funny noises. The oil is clean and the filler neck has a tiny amount of very light white film inside it for about an inch. The top up tank is also clean inside. The automatic choke works as it should too, it disengages in a few minutes.
My hubby took the plenum off so he could see better and when I looked there was nothing to see. We did all this with the enginge hot and then cold to see if that made any difference. It didn't!
What can we try next?
cristina
My 2000 2.2 16v was exactly the same-drove myself mad looking for it and there was no noticeable coolant loss.
Finally found a tiny crack at the base of the filler neck of the header tank, only visible when trying to pull cap/neck upwards.
If your tank (under bonnet on LHS in front of driver's side suspension turrent top) looks yellowed and crazed, this could be the culprit.
If this is the probelm, it is a cheap, easy, half hour fix with the header tank including sensor being £28+vat without any discount, direct from Vauxhall. You may get it cheaper through a member.
Godd luck :y
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I dont think you will find anyone on here recommend radweld or Barrs leak, i agree that the engine bay should be clean as when you do get a leak it will be easier to find and you dont get covered in crap doing the routine maintenance.
Again please confirm that you are not having to add small amounts of antifreeze every now and again, if you are then we maybe more able to advise you. I have seen in the past radiator hoses with the tinyest pin hole in them and when checked show no signs of problems but under full operating conditions they weep slightly and the water is evaporated by the considerable under bonnet temps the v6 produces.
More thing to considr i know but dont rule out anything yet as these fine beasts do tend to suprise us now and again. ::)
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Thanx,
I will add that to my list of to-do's for tomorrow. At least the weather will let us get on with it now.
Just had a thought ::), (don't go there, we ladies sometimes do have them) but I might try to get the system to get really hot, quite how I will have to figure out (maybe disconnect the electric rad fan temporarily) and then allow the pressure to build up while we look for any traces at all of 'pinhole' leaks. Surely that will show them then?
Pity there is not an electronic sniffer like CSI!
cristina
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Thanx,
I will add that to my list of to-do's for tomorrow. At least the weather will let us get on with it now.
Just had a thought ::), (don't go there, we ladies sometimes do have them) but I might try to get the system to get really hot, quite how I will have to figure out (maybe disconnect the electric rad fan temporarily) and then allow the pressure to build up while we look for any traces at all of 'pinhole' leaks. Surely that will show them then?
Pity there is not an electronic sniffer like CSI!
cristina
Found my header tank leak by smell ::)
Careful not to overheat it and cause more problems :y
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Funny thing is that it never, ever overheats! The temp gauge has never reached 95, its been on tickover now for 2 hours, no electric fan on at any time and even if left to run on tickover for many hours the electric fan does not cut in even then. The electric fan does work and the temperature switch for it is new and fully working. All that has already been looked at. The wiring circuit was tested and that is fine too.
I am going to leave it running on tickover now until it does show some signs of something.
Sods law, it must be.
cristina
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Funny thing is that it never, ever overheats! The temp gauge has never reached 95, its been on tickover now for 2 hours, no electric fan on at any time and even if left to run on tickover for many hours the electric fan does not cut in even then. The electric fan does work and the temperature switch for it is new and fully working. All that has already been looked at. The wiring circuit was tested and that is fine too.
I am going to leave it running on tickover now until it does show some signs of something.
Sods law, it must be.
cristina
The weather is very cold and if the grille vents etc are clear, it should run fairly cool on tickover for ages.
Mine ran without overheating too and with no noticeable coolant loss-just the smell, as a tiny amount of steam was escaping occasionally-not visible apart from a minute "salting" mark around the TINY crack.
Happy hunting :y
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Might be a stupid reply but are you sure the smell isn`t coming from when the pipes were changed and the old colant went on the exhausts and engine etc and is just simply burning off I only say this because i did my exhaust the other week and i still get the odd whiff of burnt wd40 and thats over 3 weeks now
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Might be a stupid reply but are you sure the smell isn`t coming from when the pipes were changed and the old colant went on the exhausts and engine etc and is just simply burning off I only say this because i did my exhaust the other week and i still get the odd whiff of burnt wd40 and thats over 3 weeks now
Excellent point-when I changed my stat, it took ages for the smell to go as the coolant dried off the casings and engine bay.
Not thought of that :y
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Not sure I have seen an answer to the coolant loss question so let me re-phrase it:
DO you ever have to top the coolant up?
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All my Omegas have had this occassional hot water smell. On the first car It was annoying and thought it might be a fault but never found one, on the second, 2.2 bought at 4 mths old, was suprised but started to think it must just be a niggle for the model and as there was no real coolant loss didn't bother looking for a leak. Had that car approx 2 years and never resolved it but it didn't seem to have any consequences. When my third omega occassionally had exactly the same smell from 5mths old I just put up with it as again I couldn't find any leak. The same smell wafts up from my 3.2, usually after a long run.
After reading previous post I'm going to check my header tank for cracks.
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Can anyone tell me why there is a smell of hot water inside the car? The inside of the car is bone dry and I cannot see any leaks at all from the outside. I have had my hubby look at it from underneath too. The Auxillary belt, Cam cover joints, HBV and thermostat were changed for VX ones because I was told that the VX parts were the best, I will always use VX parts in future for any repairs. The heater core and the rest of the system was pressure flushed out both ways as well until the water ran clean and clear. It has been fully antifreezed. The water circulates as it should, no bubbling in the tank and there are no funny noises. The oil is clean and the filler neck has a tiny amount of very light white film inside it for about an inch. The top up tank is also clean inside. The automatic choke works as it should too, it disengages in a few minutes.
My hubby took the plenum off so he could see better and when I looked there was nothing to see. We did all this with the enginge hot and then cold to see if that made any difference. It didn't!
What can we try next?
cristina
Did you sort this out? What was it?
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I dont think you will find anyone on here recommend radweld or Barrs leak, i agree that the engine bay should be clean as when you do get a leak it will be easier to find and you dont get covered in crap doing the routine maintenance.
Again please confirm that you are not having to add small amounts of antifreeze every now and again, if you are then we maybe more able to advise you. I have seen in the past radiator hoses with the tinyest pin hole in them and when checked show no signs of problems but under full operating conditions they weep slightly and the water is evaporated by the considerable under bonnet temps the v6 produces.
More thing to considr i know but dont rule out anything yet as these fine beasts do tend to suprise us now and again. ::)
A previously owned XJ6 had a Service requirement to add Barrs Leaks at regular service intervals!!! :-/
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I dont think you will find anyone on here recommend radweld or Barrs leak, i agree that the engine bay should be clean as when you do get a leak it will be easier to find and you dont get covered in crap doing the routine maintenance.
Again please confirm that you are not having to add small amounts of antifreeze every now and again, if you are then we maybe more able to advise you. I have seen in the past radiator hoses with the tinyest pin hole in them and when checked show no signs of problems but under full operating conditions they weep slightly and the water is evaporated by the considerable under bonnet temps the v6 produces.
More thing to considr i know but dont rule out anything yet as these fine beasts do tend to suprise us now and again. ::)
A previously owned XJ6 had a Service requirement to add Barrs Leaks at regular service intervals!!! :-/
Quality engineering ;D
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You may laugh but I do believe TIS also refers to adding GM anti leak tablets to the cooling system after certain proceedures.
I dont think adding one dose of a leak stopper will do any harm but the problem is that there is a temptation if there is a continued leak to keep adding further bottles and then the problems start. It has to be strictly one dose only. Just like taking medication it has to be used as per the instructions. I appreciate the purists on here dont like it but the manufacturers themselves do seem to have their own version of it. It still sells so someone must be buying it, come on everyone own up ;D
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Egg. :y
Break one into the header tank when cold.
Works far better than Barrs leaks etc.
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Egg. :y
Break one into the header tank when cold.
Works far better than Barrs leaks etc.
OmEGGa?
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Sorry guys, dont agree with any substances for bunging up a leak, fix the problem ie the leak rather than blocking up the entire cooling system with crap. Half the time, although not all the time, the problems are there waiting to pop but they are not noticed., It is normal as the cars age that the hoses will start to go soft and deteriate but get ignored or over looked as a poss up coming fault
So my tip is to reg check all the coolant hoses where poss very carefully and at the first signs of coolant leaks change the hoses and clean the fitting of any crud and check or change the hose clips as well.
The rad is also subject to being checked as well and often the causes are easily seen. Basic maintenance is what it is all about.