HAD ENOUGH!!!

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Hi all,

For the past month or so I've had problems with my Sporty overheating... yesterday I had to turn her off as the needle very nearly touched the max (all the way over!)!!!
OK, I've flushed the system (50/50 coolant), replaced the thermostat and today "locked" the viscous fan coupling. Took her for a spin @ 60 - 70mph where the needle sat at aroung half way. But when I slowed into town the needle rose and touched the first marker on the hot side...
One thing that I've noticed is that the reservoir gets filled, and the water/coolant smells of exhaust fumes... has the head gasket gone??? (The engine runs fine otherwise).
PLEASE help, I'm at the end of my tether!!!

Tony.

Head gasket

It does sound as though your head gasket has gone.

The same things happened to mine.

The cooling system got pressurised with the exhaust gas and pushed the coolant into the resevior bottle.

There were little bubbles of exhaust gas coming through the bottle.

Check the oil filler cap and dipstick.

Mine had creamy gunk where the water and oil had been mixing.

Unfortunatley, the head was corroded as well, so I had to have it welded and machined flat.

I managed to get the whole lot done, including having all the injectors cleaned and the valves reseated for £200, which I think is an absolute bargain.

I had the work done around 6 months ago, and since I had the gasket changed and cleaned out the whole cooling system, the hottest its got is just over the half mark, and that was pulling a friends caravan on a hot day this summer.

HAD ENOUGH!!!

Hi
When running do you get bubbles going into your reservoir all the time some times can be seen by just taking rad cap off fill and start engine and let it tick over from cold with the cap off. Are you losing any coolant Unknw

Check for water in oil it will be milky but if you do lot's of short trips this can cause the same thing

If not it would be worth checking the thermostat if you have had it get hot they tend to jam if over heated.

Lastly get the rad checked (this does sound like it could be your problem) So many times head gasket's go due to over heating but the fault is the rad being blocked up causing the engine to over heat and do the head gasket in .

IOW

Head Gasket.

Tony ... its the head gasket. If you have bubbles or exhaust fumes in the coolant reservoir then 100% certain the head gasket has failed. If you keep running then at worst the clinder head will crack or a hole will blow through the cylinder at a hot spot : get it off before it completely fails.

Thanks guy's for all your com

Thanks guy's for all your comments;-)
Right, here's what I am experiencing...
Driving around town the temperature sits generally around the half-way position. But then if I go for a fairly brisk run down the dual carriageway @ 60-70mph for about 3 miles or so, and pull off back onto the slower roads, the needle then begins to rise... the same thing happens if I give the car some welly for just a few seconds.

There is no sign of any oil entering the coolant - no mayo on the filler cap/dip-stick, just that obvious burnt fuel/exhaust smell in the coolant.

Every time I start her up, and even after she's warmed up, there's a "gushing" sound coming from the heater/dash. The matrix is not leaking, and there is no other visible leaks around the engine.
This can only mean air in the system, so on 3 or 4 occations I have bled the system from cold with the rad cap off. Each time, as the water heats up, it will rise up to the filler neck then "pop" back down with a bubble. I'll continue this for about 20 mins until I feel that enough air has come out. All the time the temperature stay's "below" half - bearing in mind she is just ticking over.

The rad was replaced with a re-conditioned unit when I bought the car, so would assume that is ok. Like I said earlier, I've renewed the coolant and thermostat.

From what a couple of you have said, the HG may well be the culprit - blowing the hot exhaust gasses into the waterways, hence slowly filling the system with air:sad:

Hope that's helped you more to maybe point me in the right direction. Love my Sporty to bit's, and serves me well for my hobby (rough shooting), but being glued to the temp guage all the time is something I could do without:cry:

Many thanks in advance,

Tony.

SORTED!!!

OK guy's, went to my local car factors today for some advice... the "main man" was 100% sure the head gasket was leaking, and said he had the perfect stuff to sort it!
He gave me a small bottle of K Seal head gasket repair, and say's he absolutely swears by it from his own experience, and all the positive feedback from other buyers (I had the last one on the shelf). So I bit the bullet, paid £9.95 and set off home a bit dubious!
Shook the bottle for 30 secs and poured it straight into the cold rad (filler), then took my Sporty for a good run - guess what... the needle stayed under half way, I even gave her some welly and was driving for around 1 hour - needle didn't move... WEYHEEEEEYYY!!!!
This stuff is not just temporary, but a permanant fix.
Oh, and now I don't get the "gurgling" noise any more!

Tony.

Head Gasket Repair

I tried the same stuff in my engine.

It lasted about 2 days, and then it started overheating again.

It was fine until the engine went over 4000 rpm, as the sealent is weaker than the rest of the head, and the pressure in the cylinder found the weak spot.

If its just a small leak, it may work ok, but if there is a larger leak, I doubt it will fix the problem permanently.

UPDATE No 2...

Checked the water pump today... it's fine Biggrin
So what I've done now is removed the thermostat, re-fitted the housing and re-connected the pipe, then disconnected the top hose and shoved a hose pipe down the top hose until water came from the top of the rad, then sealed it all up.
Ran the engine and the water was gushing through everything just fine, and the temperature guage sat at around the 1/8 mark, even after a good run Smile
I will run the car for a couple of days with the stat out and put up with not a lot of heat from the heater, so there shouldn't be any air pockets left at all - which I think have all gone now!
Fingers crossed Wink

Tony.

Good luck Tony, I know how

Good luck Tony, I know how aggravating it is when you have an elusive problem.
So the water pump's ok, the thermo is renewed, if you still have problems I would suspect the reconned rad was not great.
If it's partially backed up the cooling system cannot work efficiently.

Thanks Jon... I will post

Thanks Jon...
I will post update No.3 in a couple of days, when I pluck up enough courage to re-install the stat and see if things have returned to "normal" SmileWink

Tony.

UPDATE No3...

OK peeps,

Finally plucked up the courage to re-fit the thermostat today... only to find the temperature rise, and a hose bursting!!! :cry:
The hose that burst was the small one at the back of the engine, located just below the distributor about 3-4 inches long.
As I was pulling the old hose off, I noticed it was hard, and "crunchy"... it was completely blocked with metal swarf, obviously from when the head had been skimmed, and not being cleaned out properly, it had all found it's way into this hose and stuck! :mad:
I re-newed the hose, re-flushed the system, and everything is now perfect!!! ShokBlum 3
I guess it was a god send that the pipe burst as I would have not thought to look there at all, and would have just had to put up with my beasty overheating forever more!!! Lol

So now I am one very happy chappy!!! Blum 3

Tony.