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MG MGA - Coolant Loss

Hi all Im sure this has been covered before but I cant find info anywhere. When my 1500 MGA radiator is topped up and ran up to temp I loose a certain amount of coolant ( I know it should be about a pint) Am I right that once this has been lost I shouldn't loose anymore (unless I top up again)
Thanks Paul
p anderton

Yes, That is how it works in my MGA. Some folks have installed a recovery system on their cars, but MGAs didn't come from the works that way and I have not had a problem with my car over-heating.
David Werblow

Yes Paul, you are absolutely right. Sometimes takes a while to resist the temptation to keep topping up just to check...

I probably add coolant once a year or so and if it has never taken much more than a pint or so. I just let it dump that out and forget about it again.
Neil MG

I have been like others for several years keeping losing the pint ( I have a glass milk bottle for job!) hence topping it up as there is no water in the neck of the radiator. In my case things are a bit worse as the radiator overflow leaks (despite my attempt to fix it) where it enters the neck hence it sprays water inside bonnet.

What I would swear though is that when I think back to my high mileage days (early 70s) the water level used to stay half way up the neck, i.e. you could see the water level, so rarely topped up. Perhaps the difference is that in those days I had an original radiator, (or perhaps the theory I have previously expressed that modern fuels run hotter.)

Paul

Paul Dean

Great thanks for the help.
p anderton

I find myself continually topping up my radiator even though I know it isnt necessary. I think I just like to know that the rad is full and I have become used to seeing that the extra I put in will always blow out through the overflow and create the MGA puddle.

The consequence of this is that over the last 7 years or so, the antifreeze in the coolant has stripped most of the paint from the left side of my cars front chassis extension.

So my solution, over the winter, will be to fit some sort of coolant overflow tank like on the MGB so at least I will be able to see that there is plenty of coolant in the system.

Then I will hopefully never again have the challenge of trying to remove the front chassis extension to be re painted without also having to repaint the front valance!
Colyn
c firth

I installed a universal coolant overflow bottle years ago as its easy to see the coolant level in the translucent container, and my pets (2 Rhodesian Ridgebacks and 3 Maine Coon cats) are safer as coolant is sweet and poisonous. One of the dogs almost got at a puddle of coolant after I pulled my car out.
Nick Kopernik

This thread was discussed between 07/08/2014 and 10/08/2014

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