A Few Questions - Oil Leak and Radiator Leak

[lowpo]

For the last month or so I've noticed my water going down, not rapidly but just needs topping up now and then probably about once a week if i don't drive it much.

I've just changed my oil and when under the car noticed that the water leak seems to be on my radiator somewhere, not sure where as i can't seem to get to it with out dismantling everything and disconnecting the fan etc is this what i'm going to have to do ? or have i missed an easy way to get to the radiator, any diagrams or guidance would be nice

The 2nd thing i noticed while under the car was that i seem to have a slight oil leak, again it's not anything huge, but it's enough to make me want to fix it I cleaned up the oil residue with a friend yesterday in hope that i will be able to locate the area that it's coming from, i've not heard of any common problems with lupos and oil leaks but could if be the gasket it's looking like it might be leaking from there, nothing in concrete yet though, and could i do this myself if seals etc do need replacing? i'm always up for a spot of breaking fixing things my self

[LupoEnvy]

For non-major leaks around the radiator, most people use something called 'Rad Weld' which is an 'inhibitor' (i.e. prevents build up of rust etc) but its got this stuff in it that sticks to metal and seals up the leaks. Its worth just putting that in the colling system as its easy and a good temporary fix (it can last for a long time too, depending on how small the leak is - your's sounds small, so it could work - for the sake of £5 and no hassle, its worth a try):

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_166346_langId_-1_categoryId_165750

In terms of oil leak - is the sump bolt tightened up? Is there a washer between the sump bolt and the sump? If the leak isn't major, I wouldn't worry - older cars can leak a little at the bottom. It could be the sump gasket - a messy job if you want to take the sump off and put a new gasket it (I don't know much about this).

Have a good look around the engine and see if its leaking between chunks of metal. With the radiator leak, also check the quality of your cooling system pipes as they can perish over time.

Hope this helps.

[lowpo]

Cool thanks i will pick some up later, only problem i can see is that people said you need to put this rad weld stuff in your radiator cap (not your water as it can block pipes :-S) still have no idea how to get to radiator cap etc, will get some torx keys tomorrow and have a go at dismantling though

Yup the Sump bolt was tight when i changed oil, so i guess i will check again when i jack it up in the next few days

Thanks for your help