Hi Guys,

 

Ok, so this post was going to be "another Zed back on the road" type thing. It's a long story that I won't bore you with right now, but after six years of sitting in my garage, I've finally got the Zed fixed. Almost...

 

It's had two new turbos, water pump, clutch, engine mounts, cam belt and tensioners. I picked it up a couple of weeks ago and it felt amazing, I felt confident that nothing would let me down as there's nothing left to go wrong. (I know, I know......!)

 

So after about 30 miles, I noticed the temperature gauge quickly rising. Stopped and got it recovered only to find no water in the cooling system. The garage took it back, pressure tested the system, found no leaks and had it idling for a while with no problems.

 

I tried to drive it home again and after about 20 miles, the same thing happens. This time my mate was following me and saw water coming out from under the car, like I was driving through a puddle. I pulled into a road and stood in front of the car, watching water pour out from somewhere. Difficult to see where exactly, (it was dark) but it looked to be in line with the rad cap, but not coming from the rad cap.

 

So here we are, the garage (who have been great) are scratching their heads, none of us are trying to think "head gasket", but has anyone else had this or have any ideas? I really want it to be the thermostat, but don't know if a "sticky" one would cause this behaviour? The pressure test was done up to 2 bar.

 

What better place to come than here for some assistance?

 

Help....I'm so close to getting there!

 

Simon.

Quite likely you have an airlock in the water system, bleeding it a few times with the nose raised a little usually helps.

Fella check you dont have a split in the rad either on the lower pipe neck or actually on the main rad welding itself, I had this a few years back. Also check all your waterpipe work for splits.

 

best bet get water in her and get her in the air start her up and look for the leak.

 

You could also get some forte cooling conditioner it turns your collant neon green, been using it for years brilliant stuff for finding the source of leaks.

Now that's the type of answer/suggestion I was hoping for!

Now that's the type of answer/suggestion I was hoping for!

 

check your oil cap for any signs of white imuslified oil? usually a good indicator if you have oil and water mixing, however this doesnt sound like anything to do with HG, as that would also make the car run very ruff aswell.

That's what was confusing. There's no oil in the water, and no water in the oil! And as you say, it runs well!

get it in the air fill her up and let her runn and just take your time finding the leak fella, doesnt shound like worst case scenerio by any means. might be worth checking your expansion tank infront of the pass wheel aswell

Might sound a simple suggestion but this is what was wrong with mines.

Check the overflow pipe from the top of the Radiator (near the cap) is actually connected to the expansion tank, as mines was split and it just looked like an overflow hose, where in fact it was meant to be connected to the expansion tank lol

Cheers guys! I appreciate the help so far. I'll let you know how it goes, and hopefully get some pictures up when it's back home and cleaned up! Might even start posting once I get a working Zed?

tbh I was thinking expansion tank has split, as this seems to be quite common and is not too out of line with the rad cap. Mine isn't connected anymore and I don't lose any water, but if your rad cap is no longer up to strength (Usually not included in any pressure test as they remove it to pressure test the rest of the system from the radiator inlet, as is the overflow pipe because the tester seals down where the rad cap does below the overflow pipe), then the rest of your system will seem fine, but the rad cap won't hold the pressure, allowing water through the overflow pipe far too easy and would then split the expansion tank.

 

So every time you remove the cap, the pressure test is fine, when you put it back on, everything seems fine til it's up to temp, then the pressure builds, the rad cap lifts as it should, but before anywhere near the pressure it was designed for is reached, and out goes your water through the overflow hose. I've had this happen on a couple of Jap cars now :(

 

I have a nice rad cap with chrome Z badge on it in my breaker thread if you're interested :D lol Haven't checked the expansion tank yet but that's probably fine too.

I spent ages chasing around this problem and it turned out to be a faulty thermostat then a small hole in the pipe in the back of the engine. After that touch wood - never had a problem with it doing it again!

I fooking love this forum!

 

I've fed back to the garage and they'll have another crack at it later.....

Just out of interest, where is the thermostat, and is it easy to get to and change?

which garage did the work ?

A garage call AFR tuning. It's near to where I work.

 

http://www.afrtuning.co.uk/

Just out of interest, where is the thermostat, and is it easy to get to and change?

 

the termostat is behind the lower pipe on the front of the engine so you have to empty the collant system to change this, if they remove the pipe make sure the use a blade to clean the edge and silicone seal it in correctly with the gasket

Ok, cheers...

cant really help but i have only ever heard good things about AFR, hope they sort it!