Had a most undesirable incident a few days ago which seems to make no sense.

Here's exacctly what happened, anyone got the slightest idea what the f**k it could have been??

 

1. Had new n/s rear tyre fitted at Micheldever at 9am following a night shift at work.

2. Drove back home to Portsmouth (35 miles) on motorway - nice day, fairly warm, air con on, average 90mph.

3. Pull up at my flat. Switch off engine. Very odd 'gurgling' noise coming from car, quite loud, from somewhere on nearside.

4. Restart engine then switch off again, gurgling still there.

5. Notice temp guage. Guage has NEVER even got to half way, is now reading about 2/3.

6. Get out of car, see that coolant is leaking out fast from somwhere under car, nearside, from roughly directly below headlamp unit (if that makes sense).

7. Coolant stops leaking (cos its now empty), gurgling stops.

8. I poo myself cos I'm presently skint.

9. Wait half hour for engine to cool.

10. Fetch 1 litre of water. Open rad cap, pour water in. Water immediately leaks out the bottom again.

11. I poo myself further.

12. Drive very carefully to local garage and get car up on lift. Underside is wet in places, blokies start to look for problem.

13. Half hour wait. Engine been running up on lift for 20 mins.

14. Now here's the odd bit. THERE'S NO LEAK.

Water that mechanic put in is still there. Engine, which has idled for 20 mins or more, is at normal temp.

 

What the hell is going on?? I'd suspected a split hose or something at first, but how can it fix itself?

I definately put water in myself which just came straight out again, yet half hour later it's fine.

I've run the car quite hard for a couple of days now and all is perfectly normal again, but of course I'm still pooing myself that any minute it might happen again. And I don't fancy seeing my Z parked up on the side of the M3 if I can avoid it.

 

Has anyone ever experienced similar?? Any advice or ideas people??

 

Cheers in advance,

 

Steve

Hi Smurf, I am sort of having the same problem, noticed it the other night overheating so turned off immediately, let cool down and filled with water. Have now noticed water leaking from underneath car, but not at the front so i don't think its the rad. When I get it up on the ramps I will let you know what I find.

 

Cheers

Martin

 

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Smurf

One possibility is that your water level was already low. You got it well hot using the aircon and doing 90. When you stopped the car the heat soak still coming off the cylinder block and heads (and turbos!) then boiled the water which then boosted out of the overflow from the rad cap.

Yet another is same scenario but with your rad cap not tight or with a bad seal meaning that your cooling system cant pressurise - this then means that your boiling point is 100 instead of 110 or so with a properly pressurised system. If it boils it will eject water!!

 

One worse scenario is a possible head gasket leak that is allowing gas into the water system then also ejecting the water once the pressure exceeds the rad cap pressure.

 

Hope its the first or second!

 

Willie

There is another explanation from a non mechanic? As it was from the nearside could it have been built up and then release of aircon condensation? I get that from around the n/s/f after aircon been on and bit of a drive. Then if the coolant was already full the 1 litre put in could have just caused an overflow rather than a leak out. Not saying thats what it is but could it be a possibility? Again I remind you I am not a mechanic.

 

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Z first and anything else is secondary!

John Newcomb (NukeEm)

www.geocities.com/jn300zxtt

Can I just add one thing?

 

I know that Steve waited half an hour but NEVER put cold water in a car that is still hot, if you do have to add water use boiling or hot water.

 

 

Tim

Thanx for that so far gents....

I am hoping that it was the low level/getting hot/boiling/overflow explanation - I hadn't checked the level for ages, so it's more than possible.

Trouble is, unless it does it again, I'll probably never know...

 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

i'll tell you another one nobody checks and thats battery level and i know this for a fact because i top mine up every 4 months no leak form the battery it just evaporates

I think you have to check the radiator level when stone cold and top it right up. Then check the expansion reservoir tank level. If you overfill the expansion tank it comes out an overflow underneath.

Tooley is right about the battery. Mine dries up too every 3 or 4 months.

Plain water has a lower boiling point (100C) than water mixed with antifreeze doesn't it??

 

Maybe engine was still over 100c when fresh water hit it.

 

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Originally posted by tooley:

i'll tell you another one nobody checks and thats battery level and i know this for a fact because i top mine up every 4 months no leak form the battery it just evaporates

 

Yeah but Tooley,

 

You've got NASA's Disaster Recovery sight in your boot.

However, joking aside.

 

I also had a brief expanding experience today when I parked on a bank after a 1 hour drive.

 

Green fluid rolling down the gutter -

 

Opene the bonnet and found it also coming from the nearside - couldn't crawl underneath cus I was all suited up. Phone Papa Z and who gave some words of wisdom.

 

Drove home slowly whilst keeping an eye on the temp - stayed at half.

 

I only lost about half pint so probably expansion tank puking up some green but will check tomorrow.

 

Must be the time of the year for it.

You know, I had the same problem 2days ago. that nite I drained and refilled - the next day I drove it to work it ran fine, but after work when it was about 90 degrees out, I noticed that the temp started going back up and heard a small hissing sound. I popped the hood and sure enough I had a crack in my lower hose at the top, Last nite I changed that hose, but couldn't get the car to start so I'm not sure if that was the problem, just wanted to put in me few cents.