cartman

Wow, thanks for the speedy replies. Tara, Was dreading that response and the mechanic did hint at it, thing is with the air con not working and other jobs that need doing I'm not sure I want to throw anymore money at it. What didn't make sense though was the water level staying high even with the cap removed. daddyfixit, Doh,I should have checked for that when I changed the thermostat, I may as well take out the stat and check the impellor is fixed, Maybe even run the car without stat too in the hope it flushes any gunk through. Looks like a new car may be on the horizon lol.....Shame though.

Well, pretty much as in the title. Initially had a leak in rad and mechanic thought system was pressurising too much so added some K-Seal ! All seemed good for a couple of weeks or so (though I didn't do much driving), Now, I start off with water level at the minimum mark on expansion bottle and the front heater blows nice and warm, However Rear compartment heater blows cold ! Then after a few miles driving especially up a hill or similar stress the heaters will go cold and the temp will later rise...usually I can back off and the temp will come back to normal 90 degrees, but not heaters. But when I stop (and with the engine still running) carefully undo the expansion bottle it will spit some water out (Though not particularly hot water and not a lot neither) But the water level is now at the height of the filler spout and stays there. Then after turning the engine off the level remains at that level until a very long time after, like an hour or so ?? Now I have changed the thermostat and once while the engine was running with the cap off a film off the foam from the K-Seal covered the filler hole on the bottle and stayed there for a good while, so I'm not sure its a H/Gasket ??? Seems like these cars are prone to silly faults like this, so does anyone have any ideas as to what to do next ? Oh and btw no chips or tuning and have had the car 4 years now. Thanks for any input.

Well its SORTED .....Not sure what was causing it, But they took the head off and skimmed it, then replaced the gasket for a thicker one. Wierd how it passed all the tests on the head !!! But the saga isnt quite over.........Took it for a drive today and the turbo pipe behind the head popped off, They couldnt have put it on properly. Whats more it looks a right bitch to get at, Still thats for them to sort first thing tomorrow. Cheers all.

Well just to update....And to let you know its still not sorted. The garage have had the car nearly 2 weeks now, And I've had to hire a car......Again !!!. Spoke to the garage yesterday and he mentioned a heater valve ??? (anyone heard of this). Then he mentioned about looking at the water-pump. Any way I'll update soon as i know anything.

Has it been known for an after-market water pump impeller to slip on its shaft ?? The reason i ask this is when i took her to the garage, A curious thing happened, I got on the motorway and accelerated slowly up to 65........Knowing the gauge would point to the "m" of norm, But i was surprised to see the temp stay at the "o" for 2 junctions (about 8 miles), I then came to an incline and applied more gas.......This resulted in the temp gauge quickly rise to above the "m" and had to slow down to 40mph to control it. After this the temp never went below the "r", And even sitting in traffic the temp went up to the "m"......Never had that before !!!. Then on reaching the garage the temp stayed at between the "o" and "r". Had the car not have had a new pump fitted i would have thought these were classic symptoms of the pumps impeller slipping on its shaft !!! Thanks again for any input.

Hi Martin, It sounds like you've got the same problem as me......Read my thread (Running hot over 70) It might save you some expense.......Though no cure at present. Meantime if you find the solution please post back.

Well as a bit of an update.........Though still no cure found !!! The car has been in the garage(s) a few more times, The head has had 2 separate checks, pressure and chemical sniff....all appears to be well. I've had the rad hoses checked...Again nothing obvious, The car seems to be slightly worse, Now getting up to the "M" on normal roads on fast acceleration. I've been kind of hoping someone would pull out in front of me so i can put her into RAM mode lol........ But no such luck. Anyway she's back in the garage on wed (Hopefully) This time i'm going to refuse to take her back until the problems sorted, Even though the warranty has expired ( I'm hoping its still covered as an ongoing problem thats not been rectified ) Every mechanic i've spoken to are at a loss as to whats causing this problem.......Since just about the whole cooling system has been replaced. One said it could be the engine "worn". But surely that wouldn't happen so fast ?? I like the car but its giving me a lot of grief, Not to mention expense. Anyway i will post back.

Head gasket? Cheers "Tim-Spam" A mechanic did suggest this but couldn't find any evidence to support it. I'm hoping its as "Willie" said, The bottom pipe.......If not then it can only be the head gasket and/or the engine at fault. Fingers crossed its the pipe.

Cheers for the reply "Willie" That sounds so plausible it has to be right, I'll take this news to the garage and get them to change that pipe......I really feel confident your right. I'll let you know the outcome. Again many many thanks "Willie"

Cheers for the quick reply "Bleeno" Regarding the rad cap...I'm assuming this is ok as the pipes from the rad become pressurized, And when the car is hot the undoing of the cap results in hot water gushing through the overflow pipe over the gearbox. And although an airlock is a possibility...I would have hoped out of the 2 garages that 1 of them knew how to bleed it properly......But i do recall once while hot the heaters blew cold until i backed off the speed and the needle returned to an acceptable level, then they returned to warm/hot. Also noticed the car has been harder to start in the morning (dunno if this is connected to the fault) Thanks again

Well to start at the beginning, I had a replacement engine put in a year ago, Had them put a new clutch and water pump in at the same time.....For peace of mind. Anyhow 5 months later the water pump became noisy and was changed under warranty, All was fine for a further 5 months when the car started to get warm over 70 mph ......Took it back to the garage (15 miles from home) where they found a leaky pipe at the back of the engine !! However on the way home (motorway) it was evident the problem was still there. A further 2 visits to the garage resulted in them saying it was probably a partially blocked rad and to use my heaters when it got warm and see how it went..... Because of the distance to the garage i booked it into a local garage, Who diagnosed a sticky thermostat......This was replaced at a cost of

Please quantify "work" - higher bhp? better mpg? 0-60 time quicker? more torque? increased psychosomatic disorientation? lol Yep all the above......No seriously, more bhp, faster 0-60, Deffinately more torque (noticeable towing my caravan) And fuel consumption is in my opinion unchanged.

Well thought i'd post my experience here, So others don't get caught. Well had a chap from "chip n spin" in Hoddesdon herts come to remap my car. Got his details off e-bay but arranged privately. Well he promised me 40bhp which had me exited, Anyway he done his thing with the laptop. On completion he told me to take it easy for the first 200 miles, So i agreed and payed him the money

Well i've got a tuning box and believe me they work, I removed it for a garage to do some work and hated driving without it.

So the moral of this story is don't drive behind a caravan while being tailed by a lorry. :lol: