Don't be too hasty to suspect head gasket failure!

[mole42]

I had a slight overheating problem a couple of weeks ago. Damn, I thought, feels like head gaskets, but I'd had the heads skimmed and fitted new gaskets about 5,000 miles ago so I was a bit miffed. Anyway, the car's going in for a nip'n'tuck for her 50th birthday so I thought I might as well pull the engine to attend to a niggling oil leak and a few other little things. When I was removing the radiator I noticed that the bottom hose clamp was loose, not a lot but enough to let it leak under pressure - so that's why I was losing coolant. I'd pulled the heads, and the gaskets were perfect. Tighten your Jubilees, Ladies & Gents!

[dasadrew]

Oh yes, those luverly jubilees.

[flying farmer]

Having returned from a nearly 2000 mile round trip to France a few weeks ago, I went to fill up with petrol the day after I returned and noticed a leak from the bottom hose leaving a wet patch on the ground.

I had lost about a litre of coolant, fortunately the header tank holds about 2 litres.

The culprit was a dodgy jubilee clip on the bottom hose. I checked all the hose clips before I set off and found a few loose ones. The dodgy one seemed tight but in fact had a damaged thread and wouldn't tighten any further.
Glad it waited until I got home because the return trip was 19 hours of non stop driving apart from petrol stops and the tunnel.

Also shows what a good idea header tanks are!