Hi people,

I need some help on a bit of an issue here. Sorry if its been talked about before and I'm bringing it up again. I have by-passed my heater matrix due to it being busted. The car has been running fine since and since by-passing the matrix, everytime I take the Z out, I always check the water and oil levels and then warm her up and take her out. But recently, for some reason, the water in the radiator has started turning brown. Not sure why its getting brown but now I'm looking to drain the radiator completely and put new water in and coolant. So just wanted to know how I can do it and what you guys think it is due to which the water is turning brown.

I'd appreciate any help people.

 

Cheers

 

Zee

Oops. Sorry I put this in the wrong section. Should've put it on the Help and Advice Section. My bad.

Sounds like you have a similar problem to this chap....

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=78248

 

You loosing coolant?

I'll check the coolant level in the morning and get back on that but would the car run fine if the gasket has blown? Because mine is running fine. No smoke, no overheating or anything.

no it means the engine has rarely seen coolant in its life and with just plain water running through the block,i should imagine the inside of the engine has lots of rusty deposits,best thing to do,is remove radiator and place hosepipe through it block bottom off and shake it,make sure radiator runs clean with water,and all crud removed.

 

also attach hose to upper intake pipe on head and flush through you a special cleaner which will break down the rust inside the engine,have a look in halfords or do a search,you will normally get a kit with 2 stages flush rad i think its called.once engine runs clean

 

re-fit radiator,and replace with approx 3-4ltrs of coolant and rest in water 50/50%ratio run up to temp as matrix is bypassed you should have very little airlocks as most airlocks commonly sit between h.matrix and engine,just make sure the hose you have used for the bypass has not kinked,otherwise rather than the normal cycle of feed-return it wont return meaning possibility of hot spots in the engine/overheating

 

greg

I'll check the coolant level in the morning and get back on that but would the car run fine if the gasket has blown? Because mine is running fine. No smoke, no overheating or anything.

if your car runs well and is not loosing coolant i would not worry about HG problems

 

signs of HG failure are as follows

 

most common

hard starting/running rough like missing cylinders

lack of power

loss of coolant

oil in radiator/water in oil

overheating after short periods,either airlock/lack of coolant/HG failure

 

testing the following can be done via

 

a)compression test low figures may mean cracked head/s or HG

b)combustion leakage test will show up weither heads are leaking gases in to cooling systym possibly causing high pressure in the systym

no it means the engine has rarely seen coolant in its life and with just plain water running through the block,i should imagine the inside of the engine has lots of rusty deposits,best thing to do,is remove radiator and place hosepipe through it block bottom off and shake it,make sure radiator runs clean with water,and all crud removed.

 

also attach hose to upper intake pipe on head and flush through you a special cleaner which will break down the rust inside the engine,have a look in halfords or do a search,you will normally get a kit with 2 stages flush rad i think its called.once engine runs clean

 

re-fit radiator,and replace with approx 3-4ltrs of coolant and rest in water 50/50%ratio run up to temp as matrix is bypassed you should have very little airlocks as most airlocks commonly sit between h.matrix and engine,just make sure the hose you have used for the bypass has not kinked,otherwise rather than the normal cycle of feed-return it wont return meaning possibility of hot spots in the engine/overheating

 

greg

 

Thanks greg. I'll try all the above and let you what the outcome is. :)

And there's me thinking you had an arse/gut problem.......... :x:

 

Richard :o

And there's me thinking you had an arse/gut problem.......... :x:

 

Richard :o

i had lamb bhuna last night my arse has blown an arse gasket :eek: thank fook for double velvet :wack: