ok, for a while now theres been a chance that my radiator has been leaking a bit.. but as you do i left it as it wasnt causing a problem...

 

anyway, last night my car started kicking out steam from down the front of the rad... down the left hand side..

 

i pulled over and it subsided and i drove it the other mile home..

 

today i filled the radiator up, altho never bled it properly, and it took 6 litres!!!!!

 

so i drives it to work, gets near work and thought "whats that rattle?" it was as the engine came under load...

 

so i gets to work and sure enough its steaming again, altho this time its not only from the front but from the left side, between the arms of the plenum...

 

again it smelled like dirty water, but i'm now a bit concerned...

 

this happened to my old Mi16, and that was an air lock.. could this be the same...???

 

its going to a mates 1 mile away after i finish work at 5pm today, so if anyone has any suggestions i shall tell him....

 

all help appreciated, i'll keep this page up for the afternoon and reply as best i can..

 

all the best..

 

Tony

ok, for a while now theres been a chance that my radiator has been leaking a bit.. but as you do i left it as it wasnt causing a problem...

 

anyway, last night my car started kicking out steam from down the front of the rad... down the left hand side..

 

i pulled over and it subsided and i drove it the other mile home..

 

today i filled the radiator up, altho never bled it properly, and it took 6 litres!!!!!

 

so i drives it to work, gets near work and thought "whats that rattle?" it was as the engine came under load...

 

so i gets to work and sure enough its steaming again, altho this time its not only from the front but from the left side, between the arms of the plenum...

 

again it smelled like dirty water, but i'm now a bit concerned...

 

this happened to my old Mi16, and that was an air lock.. could this be the same...???

 

its going to a mates 1 mile away after i finish work at 5pm today, so if anyone has any suggestions i shall tell him....

 

all help appreciated, i'll keep this page up for the afternoon and reply as best i can..

 

all the best..

 

Tony

there are a few water pipes under the plenum which can go. they are a fooker to fix and require the plenum to be taken off. the best thing i suggest to do is a water bypass of the plenum pipes. there is a guide somewhere on here.

 

sounds like you have two problems tho so possibly the rad is fooked too.

cheers for that, appreciated, i was worried that i had done something major by putting off the trip to the garage to check the rad leak.. needless to say its off in now, hope its not too late..

 

T

could even be 3 probs now though that rattle you heard is prob/could be the engine detting (pre ignition)when engine under load due to over heating and combustion chamber igniting fuel/air mixture to early its possible you may have blown the head gaskets too now. Did you happen to notice if car went into safety boost at all when you heard the rattling?

yeah it was det carl, deffo, hence me being worried about the head gasket... luckily i sorta realised and never boosted it AT ALL once i'd heard it, so I'm hoping this may have being enough to not blow the head gasket..

 

my mechanic will no doubt *****ck me tho, and rightly so i think... oddly the temp guage in the cab never got above normal, and i KNOW this works as its overheated before, which tends to suggest an air lock (this is the same scenario as with the Mi)...

 

I've got to drive it about a mile or so just after 5pm to take it into the garage, if it IS the head gasket what would the immediate symptoms be, or would they only become apparent once it'd warmed up??

 

cheers for the help again..

 

T

If the head gasket gone there is several symptoms ie:

 

1 the car will be a b@st@rd to start and sound as though it is trying to build up compression ie turning over faster and faster until it started then run like shit.

 

2 If you have water in the rad you will see bubbles when you take the cap off

 

3 You may see some water and steam coming out the exhaust, put a hand over the back of the exhaust and see if there is water or moisture on your hand

 

4 Check the oil to see if the water has mixed with the oil, the oil will be a thick creamy substence, depending where on gasket it blown you might not get this

 

5 or doing a compression test.

 

The stock temp gauge isnt the most reliable of gauges so you cant always go by that, there has been many posts on here about the gauge still reading normal temp when the car has over heated. Hope it isnt head gasket tho bud :)

Yep, the stock gauge will go from normal to max in a matter of seconds, so no warning :(

insidently for future peace of mind if head gasket gone it will pay you to do a water pipe by-pass while the plenum is off, prevention is beter than cure as they say ;)

update, started fine, got it to garage and its being looked at now, think its an air lock and a knacked rad, will keep you informed tho, cheers for the help guys, appreciated..

 

T

hi tony........sorry to hear about the bad luck :nelson: just so you know the car has had the plenum hoses bypassed by zedworld!!!

 

gaz!