Prev: new commodores burning oil already?
Next: Un-Registered NSW Vehicles & Minister David Campbell
From: Brad on 5 May 2010 21:20
Jason James wrote:
> "Brad" <optional(a)REMOVEgmail.com> wrote in message
> news:4be16484(a)news.x-privat.org...
>>>> Brad
>>>
>>> When the engine has cooled overnight, pull the plugs and crank it
>>> over. Any water coming out the plug holes? If so, this is clearly a
>>> head gasket (although not all head gasket failures will do this).
>
> Good check for leaking HG or Head-cracks.
>
>>> You think it could be the radiator. Disconnect the radiator hoses
>>> and plug the garden hose to the bottom hose (nylex plastic
>>> connectors should fit nicely and the hose clamp will do the rest).
>>> Turn the tap on (doesn't need to be full bore) and run the engine.
>>> Initially you'll see little water flow out of the hose from the
>>> thermostat, as it opens water should flow. Now rev the engine....if
>>> the pump is fine you'll see the water flow increase with the revs.
>>> If it doesn't the pump is definitely screwed.
>
> Once the engine is up to temperature,..and its imperative you have a
> gauge which accurately tells you this,..in fact I use an old
> alcohol/tube temp-gauge to measure radiator and engine-head
> temperatures. The bulb on the end of alcohol gauges can be
> held/clamped against the head to get a proper temp reading. Drop it
> into the top-tank or slip it between the top-hose and spout to get a
> more permamnent situation. Once the temp is normal, rev the engine,..the
> water should drop a cm
> or so in the cap-neck on the top-tank. The reason this occurs is
> extra cooling occurs when the pump speeds up, which then causes the
> coolant to get colder and contract, hence drop in neck.
> If this is a nogo, it could be a partially blocked radiator.

The coollant level rises and overflows when I do that. :(


> It is
> not a good idea to allow the rad to dry out, as all the gunk goes
> hard, in bigger pieces which block the rad-tubes.

I think that's exactly the issue.


> It could also be a siezed t/stat, or one which is jamming partially
> open. It could be a pump issue. Sometimes the impellor spins on its
> shaft,..or less likely, the impellor to housing clearance is too
> wide. . Often, you may just have to start from A and go to Z.
> In the past, I have cleaned the scale out of a block (need engine out
> of car), fitted a good radiator, and have no cooling issues from a 20
> yo engine.
> Its a cheap and easy thing to replace the t/stat. They should be done
> regularly,..altho, I have questioned this,..but in your case, do it.

Replaced the thermostat when the engine was swapped recently, and watching
it warm up with the cap off, it appears to be opening up at the correct
time.


> Once this has been done, I'd expect you have no further problems
> provided the head/gasket checked OK first. If still a nogo, chuck the
> pump.
> Jason

Thanks Jason.

--
Brad


From: Brad on 5 May 2010 21:23
Clocky wrote:
> Brad wrote:
>> Milton wrote:
>>> "Brad" <optional(a)REMOVEgmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:4be11b95(a)news.x-privat.org...
>>>> Anyone want to have a guess what might be wrong here?
>>>>
>>>> 1997 1.3l 4cyl Charade 5spd A/C with 165,000km
>>>>
>>>> It sat around with no water in the radiator for 2 months with a
>>>> blown motor.
>>>>
>>>> Put a second hand engine it with new timing belt and thermostat and
>>>> the water pump looked good.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> It could be one or several of many things. Things to check
>>>
>>> Radiator cap
>>> Air bubble in the water system
>>> Water pump
>>
>> Pretty sure all that is fine.
>>
>>>
>>> I'd suggest going to a radiator specialist first and not be too
>>> concerned about a mechanic's advice.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> Milton
>>
>> Yeah. I should have just done that straight away. :\
>
> They would have been happy to sell you a radiator, I'm sure.

Yeah it was about $300 compared to waiting a couple of weeks for my mechanic
mate who could have it done for $120.

Stupid false economy as it turns out of course. Looks like I'm up for $500+
now.

--
Brad


From: Brad on 5 May 2010 21:25
atec7 7" <""atec77\"@ hotmail.com wrote:
> Brad wrote:
>> Milton wrote:
>>> "Brad" <optional(a)REMOVEgmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:4be11b95(a)news.x-privat.org...
>>>> Anyone want to have a guess what might be wrong here?
>>>>
>>>> 1997 1.3l 4cyl Charade 5spd A/C with 165,000km
>>>>
>>>> It sat around with no water in the radiator for 2 months with a
>>>> blown motor.
>>>>
>>>> Put a second hand engine it with new timing belt and thermostat and
>>>> the water pump looked good.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> It could be one or several of many things. Things to check
>>>
>>> Radiator cap
>>> Air bubble in the water system
>>> Water pump
>>
>> Pretty sure all that is fine.
>>
>>> I'd suggest going to a radiator specialist first and not be too
>>> concerned about a mechanic's advice.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> Milton
>>
>> Yeah. I should have just done that straight away. :\
>>
> I wonder if the pump is good , googling brings up the cheap pumps
> shedding the vanes

Mechanic visually inspected it about 1000km ago, and water flow 'seems' to
be right to my layman's eye but will keep it in mind.

--
Brad


From: Milton on 6 May 2010 06:22

"Clocky" <notgonn(a)happen.com> wrote in message
news:4be17275$0$27804$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com...
> Brad wrote:
>> Milton wrote:
>>> "Brad" <optional(a)REMOVEgmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:4be11b95(a)news.x-privat.org...
>>>> Anyone want to have a guess what might be wrong here?
>>>>
>>>> 1997 1.3l 4cyl Charade 5spd A/C with 165,000km
>>>>
>>>> It sat around with no water in the radiator for 2 months with a
>>>> blown motor.
>>>>
>>>> Put a second hand engine it with new timing belt and thermostat and
>>>> the water pump looked good.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> It could be one or several of many things. Things to check
>>>
>>> Radiator cap
>>> Air bubble in the water system
>>> Water pump
>>
>> Pretty sure all that is fine.
>>
>>>
>>> I'd suggest going to a radiator specialist first and not be too
>>> concerned about a mechanic's advice.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> Milton
>>
>> Yeah. I should have just done that straight away. :\
>
> They would have been happy to sell you a radiator, I'm sure.

Not necessarily. A pressurised reverse flush can sometimes clear any
blockages inside the cores which are not visible to the eye. There are
plenty of other parts within the engine that can cause an overheating issue
so replacing a radiator is not always automatic.

Regards

Milton

From: Brad on 8 May 2010 06:41
In case anyone is interested I found out what was wrong today.

The head was fine, it was just the radiator.

The miss that developed was caused by the overflow hose on the overflow
bottle blowing boiling coolant straight on top if the coil.

It should have been clipped to the side of the bottle. :\



Brad wrote:
> Anyone want to have a guess what might be wrong here?
>
> 1997 1.3l 4cyl Charade 5spd A/C with 165,000km
>
> It sat around with no water in the radiator for 2 months with a blown
> motor.
> Put a second hand engine it with new timing belt and thermostat and
> the water pump looked good.
>
> Drove it about 1000km around town without any issues but a freeway
> trip at 100kph with hills made it overheat badly. It never went over
> the top of the gauge and I didn't think it had got so hot to hurt it
> at the time. It did blow out a couple of litres of coolant which I
> refilled when it cooled down.
> Had the radiator pressure tested and it seemed fine and could see no
> leaks. Thermostat and thermo fan seemed to be cutting in as expected.
>
> Spoke to the mechanic who did the engine and he said it was almost
> definitely a partially blocked radiator and it should be fine around
> town for a couple of weeks. (it's mates rates, after hours, so had to
> wait for him)
>
> Someone here suggested you could test for a partially blocked
> radiator by pouring water over it when hot and seeing if some parts
> evaporate when others don't. I tried that but the radiator surface
> never actually gets hot enough to evaporate water.
>
> About a week ago I ducked out late at night for a 10 minute each-way
> trip to the 7/11. I didn't even think about the temp gauge but when I
> pulled up home it was steaming it's head off and the temp gauge was
> past the top. I figure it was either low on coolant when I left, or
> using the A/C with windscreen defrost on the trip caused it.
>
> Next day I refilled it, drove to the local servo to warm it up, then
> opened the radiator cap to make sure it was full and found white foam
> bubbling out the neck.
>
> The car seemed to sound and run fine but on the way back home I
> noticed a bad "miss" when I started heading up a hill in 3rd gear,
> where 2nd would have been the right choice. It was kind of a
> vrrrooomm-put-put-vrooom-put-vroom sort of thing. Not regular and not
> constantly, just now and then. I 'think' I could detect a slight ping
> when it was happening too. But that could have been my imagination or
> just loading the thing too much at low revs possibly? It also
> 'seemed' to have more trouble making a hill start than I recall it
> had, but I was really looking for problems at that stage so aren't
> 100% sure. Power seemed normal otherwise.
>
> Anyway, spoke to mechanic and he said that sounds like a head gasket,
> or the head.
>
> I read that on the interwebs that foam can also be caused by air in
> the system or a dieing water pump and I should raise the rear of the
> car and let it idle for 20 minutes to clear any air out the system,
> so did this yesterday. There was no sign of foam at all, I couldn't
> detect any smell of exhaust fumes from the radiator neck with my
> nose, and the only bubbles coming through were few and largish. So
> I'm starting to think (hope) maybe the head/gasket isn't blown. The
> only bad signs I could see were a constant drip coming from the rear
> muffler about once every 2 seconds... although I wasn't sure this
> wasn't just normal condensation effects. The other thing was when the
> thermo fan cut in the engine spluttered about 300ml of coolant out
> the open radiator for some reason and when I topped it up a small
> amount of white foam appeared, this time with slight traces of brown
> film on top. It seemed to wash away and that was the end of it.
> Is it definitely a partially blocked radiator? Or could the initial
> overheating all be due to a head issue maybe? Apart from being left
> empty for that period there is no reason to think the radiator was
> obviously the issue I thought.
>
> If the radiator is causing the overheating, could that short drive
> when it overheated have been enough to cause heat damage to the head
> or blow the gasket?
>
> Can you think of anything else that could be causing the miss
> symptoms?
> And do you think I'm up for head work or not?



--
Brad


First  |  Prev  |  Next  |  Last
Pages: 1 2 3 4
Prev: new commodores burning oil already?
Next: Un-Registered NSW Vehicles & Minister David Campbell