Water Water everywhere ... oh bollocks!

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

Right, I would appear to have too much pressure in my coolant system! Put a new pressure cap on yesterday but would appear to still have water pissing out. Any ideas?

Newbie Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 19

head gasket or cracked head:(

Site Subscriber Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 4722

water pissing out from the pressure cap?

or all over the place..

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

Just the pressure cap. HG just done.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

pop the cap apart and clean it out.

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

Got a new cap.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

so a new cao and its pumping water out?

well either you have air, doubtfull to do that tbh or the headgasket is leaking or a cracked head/block.

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

You have got to be kidding me Rolling Eyes

How do I know if the head/block is cracked?

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

a small line that creates 2 halves used to be 1 bit defined as a crack gives it away Razz

But it could be anything.

To see if its a crack you need to either get a pressure test done on the car (tricky unless you DIY it) or remove the head and engine and send em off if you can't see it.

Cracks in heads etc are notorious for being hard to spot.

Is coolant passing through the radiator? Is it running hot? a stuck stat would cause these problems.

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

Right, it's still only got water in it, no antifreeze yet...would that help? It has been running hot.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

water is fine. pure water is a better coolant than a water/antifreeze mix, its only problem is freezing and corrosion.

Anyway when it runs does the radiator get hot from coolant passing through it?

Level 2 User Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 40

dont wanna butt in but if youve only just replaced the pressure cap, it could be that at fault, just coz its new dont mean much. when the engine is warm and you switch off can you hear the water bubbling nr the rad/expansion tank?

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

Yes Rad is getting hot.

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

Car overheated (red light came on) just as I pulled up to the house this afternoon! If the Head/Block was cracked would there not be other symptoms? Am going to find out tommorrow if a mechanic aquaintance can compression/leakdown test it.

Newbie Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 19

can you see air bubbles flowing into the expansion tank. These may not show until the engine has warmed up. It may help to hold a torch or light behind the tank as it will show them up clearer. I had a renault diesel that was over pressurising and got bubbles flowing into water tank which I found to be the result of cracks in the head between the valves, but this may also happen cos of HG

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

well I'd say hg or cracks tbh.

even with no pressure on the caps the cars don't tend to over heat, not enough to cause iussues anyway.

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

Not looking good is it? Crying or Very sad

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

not really no

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

I blame Chet

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

i just seen that air bubbles on chamades expansion tank today after a rather long trip when i parked the car .
but it never over heated or anything ,most of the time the neddle sat on 1st notch (the 1st notch after the 2 together at the bottom)
and went between the 1st and 2nd notches now and again due to sitting at traffic etc.
also noticed the fan working as i parked up and the aux water pump running .
any problem there ?

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

Is there anything I can put in similar to radweld that will buy me some time? Might be getting a TD soon, hope to transplant the TD lump into mine.

Would a head off a TD fit mine? Don't think the local scrappy has any standard diesels.