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Coolant leak and oil pressure light (failed car start)


jjbisme
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Hello,

My name is James and I have an is200, year 2000, sport.

I noticed recently that my engine coolant levels were dropping quite quickly so I decided to replace the radiator (it was quite old and was pretty damaged when I took it out), this was about a month ago. I had probably driven about 7 miles today when I stopped the car for about 5 minutes, when I tried to start it, I could hear the engine turn over but it would go very slow and then cut out after about 2 seconds. Then I would get all the dash lights that I have attached (file name Dash lights). One of these lights is for low oil pressure which is concerning, can the low oil pressure light come on if the radiator coolant levels are low? They were very low, I actually had to pour 2 litres into the radiator itself to top it up.

There is a new radiator in the car at the minute and it's still leaking. I can't find an issue with any of the hoses but there is a bit of pink residue around the water pump, does it look like I need a new water pump? (file name "water pump").

My main issue was the car not starting and the low oil pressure light, is this something that could be caused by low coolant?

Thanks!

James

 

Water pump.JPG

Dash lights.JPG

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Welcome to the LOC James.  I don't think I would be concerned about the oil pressure light unless it came on on its own when the engine is running. I can't see why low coolant would stop it from starting but I would be concerned about where the coolant is going as it could have some bearing on why it won't start. Does it leave any small puddles on the ground?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Phil! (sorry for taking to long to get back to you). I was talking to a few guys at work and I think what happened is that there wasn't enough coolant in the engine so the idle speed was off and the car was just stalling each time.

I can't figure out where the coolant is going, there's a new radiator in the car, the hoses look alright as well, I don't think it's a gasket seal issue because I'd say since I've replaced the radiator, I've replaced about 10 litres of coolant (over a couple of months) so there would have been a few noticeable issues if it was this.

Do you have any tips to find out where it's leaking from? It's probably loosing about half a litre every 100 miles so it's not something that is noticeable when looking under the bonnet.

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It seems very strange that a car using that much coolant isn't showing obvious signs of leakage, 10 litres over a couple of months is a lot!  If it isn't leaking out with visible signs either on the engine or on the ground, the assumption would be that it's finding its way out via the head gasket. It may be worth having a pressure test to determine whether that's the case. 

Presumably the exhaust doesn't produce lots of white smoke/steam? 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Phil,

I've been keeping an eye on it and there it looks like it's coming out around the water pump but it's hard to tell exactly where from, its everywhere, I have a new water pump that I plan to fit when I get the chance but looking at this picture it looks like it's coming from the rear section behind the water pump.

I forgot to mention in the original post that this all started to happen after my cooling fan fuse blew when I was sitting in traffic, the car went into the red but I saw it pretty quickly and managed to get the car cooled, but it looks like it's already damaged a seal (which is getting worse quite quickly). It just looks to me like it's leaking in a few places

WaterPump.JPG

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