Guest BDM2510 Posted January 5, 2007 Report Posted January 5, 2007 Dear members, I have a 2001 Ford Galaxy Ghia with 1.9tdi 115bhp engine and 48k miles. Runs perfectly but had problem on long journey from Nottingham to Isle of Bute. Any help required. Travelled for 2 hours and water temp remained fixed at 90 degrees. Warning sign came up saying STOP Check Coolant level. Stopped vehicle and level fine (sitting above minimum level) but cap needed quarter turn. Travelled approx 40 miles heading over to Penith from Scotch corner and near summit guage rose from 90 to 130 degrees. Pulled over and steam/ water pouring from below cap in expansion tank. Decided to phone Greenflag. They topped up with 1 litre of water and checked radiator fans working OK. Confirm pressure OK in main hoses and continued journey. Travelled 100 miles with guage constant at 90 degrees and without warning rose to 130 degrees but no STOP warning. Pulled into emergency lane and temp went back to 90. Stayed constant until ferry. Coming off ferry started up and the STOP Check Coolant light came on again. Totally perplexed - has anyone had this experiece or can shed some light on the potential problem. Water and oil checked before leaving. Engine runs perfectly and no problems with revs when running normally. Greenflag saw no leaks present and put it down to the quarter turn on the cap. Do I have a faulty cap or is the water pump on way out or something else???? Just arrived home and will check water leave and cap tomorrow as only live 1 mile from ferry and pitch black. Galaxy well cared Ford and FSH with last service only 1200 miles ago. Any help would be welcome as I have a Ford dealer on the island and may be something easy to sort. The only thing I`ve noticed since owning the Galaxy (3 months) is i) the interior temp takes a while to kick in and ii) very very occasionally when starting the engine from cold it can intermintentally cut out after starting. Perhaps being paranoid as it`s only happening a few times but starts and idles perfectly 98% times. Look forward to help and please respond if you require more info Quote
Guest Cepheus Posted January 6, 2007 Report Posted January 6, 2007 Dear members, I have a 2001 Ford Galaxy Ghia with 1.9tdi 115bhp engine and 48k miles. Runs perfectly but had problem on long journey from Nottingham to Isle of Bute. Any help required. Travelled for 2 hours and water temp remained fixed at 90 degrees. Warning sign came up saying STOP Check Coolant level. Stopped vehicle and level fine (sitting above minimum level) but cap needed quarter turn. Travelled approx 40 miles heading over to Penith from Scotch corner and near summit guage rose from 90 to 130 degrees. Pulled over and steam/ water pouring from below cap in expansion tank. Decided to phone Greenflag. They topped up with 1 litre of water and checked radiator fans working OK. Confirm pressure OK in main hoses and continued journey. Travelled 100 miles with guage constant at 90 degrees and without warning rose to 130 degrees but no STOP warning. Pulled into emergency lane and temp went back to 90. Stayed constant until ferry. Coming off ferry started up and the STOP Check Coolant light came on again. Totally perplexed - has anyone had this experiece or can shed some light on the potential problem. Water and oil checked before leaving. Engine runs perfectly and no problems with revs when running normally. Greenflag saw no leaks present and put it down to the quarter turn on the cap. Do I have a faulty cap or is the water pump on way out or something else???? Just arrived home and will check water leave and cap tomorrow as only live 1 mile from ferry and pitch black. Galaxy well cared Ford and FSH with last service only 1200 miles ago. Any help would be welcome as I have a Ford dealer on the island and may be something easy to sort. The only thing I`ve noticed since owning the Galaxy (3 months) is i) the interior temp takes a while to kick in and ii) very very occasionally when starting the engine from cold it can intermintentally cut out after starting. Perhaps being paranoid as it`s only happening a few times but starts and idles perfectly 98% times. Look forward to help and please respond if you require more info Faulty seal on expansion cap is quite a common issue. Shouldn't be too much for a replacement I wouldn't have thought. With regards to the interior temperature, do you mean that hot air takes a while to be blown into the cabin after starting the car on a cold day due to the enginer temperature taking a while to come up to normal running temperature? If so, does your booster/aux heater work ok? Very common fault on the tdi model and has been extensively covered on the forum if you search. Quote
Guest BDM2510 Posted January 6, 2007 Report Posted January 6, 2007 Dear member, Thank you for your response. Perfect answer. Checked the cap today and compared with wife`s polo diesel cap. Rubber has perished in one area and not creating seal. Ordered seal from Fraud`s at Quote
Guest Cepheus Posted January 7, 2007 Report Posted January 7, 2007 I've found that my CC only wafts in a small amount of air when I first switch on and it's set to Auto to ventilate the cabin. Hot air comes in when the engine is up to temperature and the air entering the cabin hot enough to start to bring the ambient cabin temperature up to the pre-set value. Turning off the Auto setting will blow more air in sooner, albeit colder than the temperature set on the CC panel. Quote
Guest BDM2510 Posted January 31, 2007 Report Posted January 31, 2007 Dear members, Sorry to add another reply. I bought a new expansion cap from Ford. Drove 80 miles (2 hours) and return trip, no change in the water level. Week later did the same journey and level fell below minimum about 1 inch. I`ve looked everywhere and can`t see any leek. The cap which is brand new fits securily until last turn when it is very easy to put to full lock. Filleed up to level again today. Did 30 mins driving level feel approx 1cm and only water detected was from the 'overflow' area sitation on the expansion cap area. The water was warm so looked to be coming out there. Any clues as to why this would happen as the car is running well and is it the bottle or another faulty expansion cap. Help required! BDM2510 Quote
Richard gal Posted January 31, 2007 Report Posted January 31, 2007 Is the neck of the tank ok or has it got damaged and not sealing correctly? Quote
Guest BDM2510 Posted January 31, 2007 Report Posted January 31, 2007 Dear member, Looks fine. I replaced the old cap as it was coming loose quarter turn. The new cap is very tight but last quarter turn it becomes fairly light to put on. By coincide I bought a tank and cap on ebay and this one is very tight fit. Not sure whether to replace. When I had the major loss of water it was definately 'spewing' out the 'overflow' below the cap. There is certainly very good pressure in the pipes and even when cool good release. Do you know how the seal works and the 'overflow' works? Regards BDM2510 Quote
NikpV Posted January 31, 2007 Report Posted January 31, 2007 the spewing out could be as a result of overheating, it appears to be an intermittent thing (cf. the journey back) the water pump impeller springs to mind but can' t think of circumstances where it may be intermittent(not taken one apart), it would delay the heating effect if water was not flowing, if it suddenly stopped flowing I can see the overheating message occuring - is it possible that the water pump impellor can become intermitently loose on its shaft? Would be worth ruling out the aux heater though, on a cold morning ( Quote
littledaz Posted January 31, 2007 Report Posted January 31, 2007 is it possible that the water pump impellor can become intermitently loose on its shaft? Something like this Nik, generally find that the water pump, if faulty, shows no indications of failure until the engine is under load i.e. high revs. The impellor turns OK until it is required to produce more flow and then slips. Very common as I think this forum is aware. Quote
littledaz Posted February 1, 2007 Report Posted February 1, 2007 (edited) The impellor can be checked without removal of water pump and cambelt. The thermostat is mounted directly behind the water pump on the side of the engine block. This requires two 10mm bolts to be removed and obviously coolant drain but, when the thermostat is removed, you can place your finger or screwdriver in the hole and feel the impellor to see if it is loose. Be careful using a screwdriver though, the impellor is made from plastic and if forced, it can break, if not broken already! Edited February 1, 2007 by littledaz Quote
NikpV Posted February 1, 2007 Report Posted February 1, 2007 Cheers LD - I think the op needs to check this I wonder whether normal circulation on the journey back from nottingham until extra load put on going over the pennines from scotch corner to penrith - impellor loosens/stops and so overheats. Overheting causes expansion and loss of coolant through overflow? This can now occurr (impellor now loose on shaft) intermitently causing slow heating (cabin die to lack of circulation) and occasional coolant loss from local overheating Quote
littledaz Posted February 1, 2007 Report Posted February 1, 2007 Yes Nik, that sounds very possible in view of the fact that there are no external leaks. Only other thing is internal leak via head gasket maybe but, this is not so common. I'd be checking pump first. ;) Quote
Guest BDM2510 Posted February 2, 2007 Report Posted February 2, 2007 Dear members, Thank you for your help on this one. I was going to try and replace the expansion tank first in case it was the thread at fault. I have another one and the cap to tank fit is very good. However, if it is the water pump, is it a difficult job to replace? I notice on e-bay you can buy the pump for around Quote
Guest mcyoungy Posted February 2, 2007 Report Posted February 2, 2007 (edited) Phone you local Ford dealer and they can tell you what service work is recorded on their database for your vehicle. There is also a record in your service book. Cambelt is due every 40k miles, so if you didn't have it changed at your last annual service my bet is it has not been changed. It is not an item that is covered under a routine service, but a little extra you have to specifically ask for. Edited February 2, 2007 by mcyoungy Quote
Richard gal Posted February 2, 2007 Report Posted February 2, 2007 Do these plastic inpellers melt into a blob when overheated? Quote
Smilge Posted February 2, 2007 Report Posted February 2, 2007 Hi BDM2510, from experience with other cars and overheating problems you might like to consider a partially blocked radiator or an air lock in the system. I also would consider the thermostat if replacing the expansion tank cap hasnt cured it. Good luck mate Quote
Guest mcyoungy Posted February 2, 2007 Report Posted February 2, 2007 Do these plastic inpellers melt into a blob when overheated? no they just part company with the shaft Quote
Guest BDM2510 Posted February 23, 2007 Report Posted February 23, 2007 Dear members, Just an update on the expansion cap. Definately can`t see any leaks. Did a few 120 mile trips and no problem with thermosta. However, I noticed that when I checked the coolant level the following day is was about 2 inch from the minimum line. I unscrewed the expansion cap and as the air release the water shot up to the correct levels. I did another journey and the same thing happened again. Does this make any sense to confirm possible problem? Any help appreciated, Regards BDM2510 Quote
NikpV Posted February 23, 2007 Report Posted February 23, 2007 Dear members, Just an update on the expansion cap. Definately can`t see any leaks. Did a few 120 mile trips and no problem with thermosta. However, I noticed that when I checked the coolant level the following day is was about 2 inch from the minimum line. I unscrewed the expansion cap and as the air release the water shot up to the correct levels. I did another journey and the same thing happened again. Does this make any sense to confirm possible problem? Any help appreciated, Regards BDM2510 can only think that there must be some air somewhere in the system - water is almost incompressible so if the water level is low but returns to normal when the cap is removed it implies that air in the sytem has been pressurised, its volume reduced and the waterreplaced it. As the pressure is relaesed the air expands and pushes the liquid back to its normal level. Quote
NikpV Posted February 23, 2007 Report Posted February 23, 2007 ps: did you check your waer pump because if its not pumping properly it will not move any airlock around to the expansion tank Quote
Guest BDM2510 Posted February 27, 2007 Report Posted February 27, 2007 Dear member, Car is due into garage shortly, so I`ll get them to look at the water pump. I tried to find but not much space to look down left hand side where the drive belt is. I assume you need to take off the belly pan to have a good look. I`ll keep you posted, Regards BDM2510 Sorry for delay in response but the members board usualy informs who has read your message and I don`t seem to have any update from 3 weeks ago. Quote
NikpV Posted February 27, 2007 Report Posted February 27, 2007 do rely on emails they are unreliable at best :ph34r: Quote
Guest BDM2510 Posted February 28, 2007 Report Posted February 28, 2007 Dear Nickpv, I took the galaxy for a jopurney with my caravan. First time towing with her and against my previous Audi Allroad 2.5 I thought far more impressive. But old problem back to haunt me. I`ve more info before going into the garage so any help would assist. On the first long climb on the motorway (after 30 miles), water guage went up to 130 and warning came on. I also noticed that on the climb the temp from the interior vent dropped to cold air. Pulled her over and tank water tank bubbling away. When safe let off the pressure and steam. Small fill up. Guage by that time back to 90. Travelled another 2/3 miles same thing. As the vehicle went down hill temp would remain at 90 at 2000 rpm. Interior vent temp rose to normal. Hit another long incline same thing - Interior vent temp dropped - guage rose. Fortunately got to the summit and mainly downhill to destination (50 miles away). By watching the revs and the vent temp could manipulate. Aty desitination uphooked caravan on the site and let engine cool. Refilled with water and drove back with no caravan. Full temp resumed for duration of journey approx 100 miles. No guage variation. My dad was an ex-mechanic and sid it was the thermostat as a failed water pump would have had more problems. He thinks there is air trapped in .the system as per previous post. Would welcome your thoughts on this or any other member before going to the garage to sort it out. Regards BDM2510 Quote
NikpV Posted February 28, 2007 Report Posted February 28, 2007 maybe but I would still check impellor - if its off then air will not get push around system to be vented out ???? Quote
NikpV Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 maybe but I would still check impellor - if its off then air will not get push around system to be vented out ????I would have thought that the thermostat would be operating - or not as it gets to 90 and would give trouble before engine was under heavy load. if we assume at one oint the impellor stops pushing the water around then the cooled water in the heater matrix would result in no hot air and all that heat energy goes to boiling the water- the expansion tank could heat up by convection - less likely for the heater matrix because it wilhave a higher resistance to flow.Can't say its not the thermostay but as the temp rose there is more chance of the thermostate working - if its got a bit sticky Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.