Installed a pair of ApexI's yesterday. Seemed to go ok - sounded nice :D, car stalled every time it dumped :mad: but hey there's no such thing as a free lunch right?

 

Then I'm driving to work at night and the next thing I know I look down to see the engine temperature on MAXIMUM, the bloody POWER light flashing and water pissing out over the road behind me! Luckily I was pulling into the car park so I cut the engine pretty sharpish. Lifted the bonnet and the engine sounded like it was BBQing itself. :eek:

 

Let it cool down (obviously), filled up with water and left overnight. In the morning it hadnt lost any water and it ran ok (bar the erratic idle even tho I wasnt going over 2000 rpm!) Got back home and it was dripping lightly from passenger-side middle of engine bay and a faint fizzing/bubbling sound from near the rad cap (but im fairly sure it wasnt from the rad cap itself).

 

Are these two linked (the water loss and the BOV) or a nasty coincidence? Any ideas fella's? (sh1t youre all at Billing! :( )

Right just spent an hour underneath it in the pouring rain and I can see a hairline crack in the bottom corner of the radiator where water is very slowly dripping out. My temp sensor is staying at cold even when Ive run/lightly revved the engine for a few mins. Would this be because of the leak? Is there any option other than a new radiator? :( :cry:

Dave I'm no mechanic but have you considered radweld :nelson:

Just a thought m8?

Dave I'm no mechanic but have you considered radweld :nelson:

Just a thought m8?

 

 

no no no no :slap:

And why not crack a few eggs into the rad aswell!!!! :nelson: That should gum it right up!"!! :mac1: Take the rad out and get it reconned, it shouldnt be too dear, and it will be a much better job, and last longer, in the long run :hyper: :hyper:

Your temp gauge runs off of the sensor on the top coolant pipe going into the head (not the yellow one the black connector) they arn't in my opinion a very good fit as the wires are very strained, if you pulled things around when fitting the bovs, you may have pulled something that was caught on this and loosened it a bit, take it off clean it and put it back on.

 

As for the rad, thats not a bad prob at all, its easy enough to get out on the Z, just take the shroud off, then the pipes and the two clips on top, then it lifts out of a shelf its perched on. I wouldnt think they are very expensive 100-200?

 

Just remember to fill the rad up after and bleed all the air out of the bleed screw on the right side of the car (drivers)

 

Good luck matey

p.s even with the coolant leak your temp sensor will work as even if there is not a great deal of water in the engine, the hot air passing through will still make the sensor read high.

 

The only thing to really watch out for, (i wouldnt recomend moving it at all) but if you must go to the garage to get it done, then fill her right up, keep your heater on full, as soon as the heater starts to go cold in the slightest (well still on full) you should stop, cause the coolant isnt passing through anymore and taking the heat away, means your engine will fry soon if you dont stop when this happens (or of course your thermostat is fooked, but we already know its your rad leaking so thats ok)

 

Steve

Thanks for that Steve-O. I just nipped out for 10 mins in the car :slap: and the temp gauge started rising again so at least that's still plugged in and working. The temp got about 3/4 of the way up until I (luckily) got back home. It's going to Tamworth soon (probably on tow) so I'll just have to be real careful until then. :(

Yeh take it careful matey hope you sort it soon ;)

Well I finally got my radiator sorted. There was a crack in the header tank apparently, which was dripping water down the inside and through a small crack in the bottom. Took it to a garage who ordered a new core and then rebuilt the header tank from brass, before spraying the whole lot black - nice! (there's even a bit of the Darkside in my car now - hehe)

 

So it took me (and me dad who turns out to be an absolute lifesaver) four hours to refit the radiator (and sorted the BOVs as well). Turns out that once we'd seated the rad, the guy had made the top of the header tank too big (right next to the filler cap). The two bonnet pin arms (which screw to the bay above the headlights) wouldnt fit any more, so me dad had to cut some of them away.

Got everything done - triple-checked everything. Ran the car a few times - everything seemed ok. Thought to myself - right, let's go for a spin. Lowered the car off the jacks after it'd been up for nearly a week and what happens?

Water pisses out from under the rad. You've never seen my face fall so much - until i realised it was trapped rainwater :D :rofl:

So after a good test drive it holds at medium temp, oil press. is good and boost press. is normal. Thankyou God!!!