Oil & Water loss

[pgoldsmith]

Anyone know if GTAs lose a little oil during normal driving - I notice I need to top up a quarter of a pint if that every 2 or 3 months or so. Is this due to natural loss something to do with having a turbo ?

Also the coolant seems to need topping up every month or so, someone mention I may have an air lock but I dont see how that effects where the coolant can boil off? Again is this something to do with Turbo cars ??

All engines consume oil so don't worry. The workshop manual states that a consumption of 1lt per 1000km is considered acceptible. Sounds like you are well within that.

On the water front - its probably a very small leak that just allows a little bit to seep away over time. Consider yourself lucky - I end up having to put about half a litre in after every journey. I think my head gaskets are suspect though!

The thing you do have to watch if you are topping up regularly is that you bleed the radiator. Any air that gets into the system has a nasty habit of collecting there and has no other means of escape. I have had a couple if instances where I've neglected this and the radiator has got to a point where the top half it is probably full of air. At this point, the fan switch stops working (not sure exactly why as its at the bottom of the rad!) and my car overheats.

[pgoldsmith]

Hi Andrew,
thanks for the reply, trust your still busy sorting the car out.

Usually I try to keep on top of this coolant problem and make sure I top it up before it falls below the hole in the bottom of the expansion tank. So hopefully it's not introducing more air into the system.

I've already changed the expansion cap as I thought the seal looked a little worn and perhaps was not sealing correctly.

I'd still bleed the radiator as you might have a leak towards the front of the car and any air that does get in might collect in the radiator, rather than taking the long route back to the expansion tank.