Overheating

[Guest j_mchattie]

Basically, my cars overheating.

 

Here are the details of the symptoms:

 

Losing Coolant (1L per 200miles)

Cannot find the leak

All pipes hot, radiator cold

Cabin heater working fine

Exhaust steaming loads, even after 4 hours!

No sign of oil/water contamination

 

I cannot find the leak, there is no steam from the radiator and the pipes are dry. The radiator appears to be cold, even though the pipes leading from and to it are hot. The only form of cooling the engine I have is the cabin heater (which works fine).

 

ANY ideas gladly welcome. Im changing the Radiator and thermostat tomorrow, hopefully this will solve it. If my radiator was blocked up, surely there would be cold water in the pipes for the rest of the system? But no, the pipes are hot (and very pressured).

 

Thanks

[Guest j_mchattie]

Bad news boys and girls.

 

My Dad mentioned it could be the Cylinder head gasket. Which is less than ideal really! And yes, i can see bubbles creeping up the expansion tank, and a really shoddy idle. Ill do a compression test first, but i know what itll say.

 

Has anyone had a quote for my model of car? I hear frauds are chopping off arms and legs for such work. Any idea what the REAL mechanics are after?!

 

Thanks

 

James

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Lumpy idle, disappearing water, no sign of leak - all signs of head gasket failure. Get it done sooner rather than later to minimise consequential damage. Know of a good local garage? Shouldn't be too difficult a job; maybe 4 or 5 hours labour at most...but why did the gasket fail? Just age or something more sinister? Was all OK prior to this?

[Guest j_mchattie]

Ive had a very slow leak for about 5 months now, couldnt find it. This was fixed by radweld. But ive done 14,500miles since then, and the clock shows 148,500 - its fair enough really.

 

Thanks

[Guest j_mchattie]

Dont buy the Gunsons Hi-Gauge Plus compression tester - It wont reach the spark plug holes!.

 

Ive rung around for quotes on getting the cylinder head gasket changed, had everything from

[Guest j_mchattie]

Actually, intuition has told me not to be cheap!. Im taking it to a

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Wise move - there is a price below which the job simply cannot be done properly and corners will be cut.

[Guest j_mchattie]

Dropped it off today.

 

I wanted to check the guy knew what he was upto, so i asked him which parts would be replaced after undoing (ie engine support nuts, cylinder head bolts) - he got it right. I even managed to swindle a free piston crown clean out of him! I was offered a complete head overhaul for

[Guest j_mchattie]

I talked myself into it.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Fingers crossed - hope all goes well; when you collect it, ask him what state the innards were in. With modern fuels, maybe there won't have been too much "coke" to de-coke! - and so long as the bores and rings are in reasonable nick, it should run like almost new after the re-build. Just remember to take it easy for the first couple of thousand miles after you collect it.

[Guest j_mchattie]

The garage said it would be a 3/4 day job, so far they have had it for 11!

They tell me there was a Van which needed a new gearbox, and it put mine back (a lot). They also said they are working untill 2am each night to get all the work done. It has messed my weekend up BIG TIME, but they ensure me it will be done by Monday afternoon.

 

Obviously ill pay them for the work they have done, but what if they start telling me 'it took so long because there was this complication and that complication....' - can they demand more? I was given a flat rate quote 'it will be

[Guest j_mchattie]

Im picking up my car this evening, a question:

 

Its had the overhaul, but its an old engine (ie. worn in) - will i have to drive it easy for a while or just drive normally? Ill keep off full throttle (as long as i can behave myself!) for a few hundred miles, but do i need to be overly carefull?

 

Thanks

[Andrew T]

You should have the torque of the head bolts checked and tightened if necessary after 1000 miles.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

..and drive it gently as you would if you wererunning in a new car. Don't hold constant engine speed for any length of time though - any odd vibrations can cause damage. Despite what many people will tell you about modern engines not needing to be run in, I don't believe this; I've been lucky enough to buy new cars in 1985 and 1998. Neither has used any oil between services (the 1985 one got traded in against my 2nd-hand Galaxy last year at around 120,000 miles and was still not burning oil, didn't require topping up between services). The 1998 car is a Renault Scenic diesel, whose engine was supposed to use a bit of oil when new, until bedded in. Well, driving it carefully for first 2000 miles seems to have been worth it! Never needed to top it up between services either.

[Guest j_mchattie]

Ok, ive picked it up. Its making some odd noises, but ive been assured these are to be expected for a while.

 

The tappits are pretty noisy at the moment, it has started to get quieter, i hope it gets less and less with time.

 

The idle is very poor at the moment (tappits again?) Its searching for idle and doesnt settle.

 

Is this to be expected?

 

Thanks

 

James

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Back in the old days of carburettors, the idle speed was usually set high after major engine work - don't know why, but it just was. Has your garage asked you to take the car back for a check after 500 miles or thereabouts, so that they can check it over and re-torque the head bolts?

[Guest j_mchattie]

OK, 200 miles and no change with the tappets.

 

After much messing about, i was about the leave it at the garage and go, then i asked which grade of oil hed put in - 10W40.

 

10W40 doesnt really go too well with 5W30 Zetec tappets does it!?!?!

 

Hes on the job.

 

Cheers

[Guest j_mchattie]

Ive just had a phone call saying that the tappets may have stopped working! When i put the car in to have the cylinder head overhaul done, they were working perfectly. And now after the overhaul they dont work. Is this my problem? Or am i right in thinking that because they worked before, they should work now - and that the garage are at fault?

 

I REALLY hope its the latter, because a new set are

[Guest j_mchattie]

Looks like the overhaul killed the tappets. So im gunna have to slap in a new set. Some advice - when your getting your head gasket changed and someone offers to do a cyclinder head overhaul for you at the same time - dont see shiney valves and clean piston crowns - see pound signs, burn carbon and general death. Dont expect a purr, expect a tractor imitation.

 

Does anyone know where i can get a set of Hydraulic tappets for less than Frauds

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Something sounds a bit odd here! If the tappets were working OK before, then surely they should work OK now? - and I don't think that the wrong oil viscosity will have damaged them is so short a time. Of course you may have been unlucky - we know of someone many years ago who had a major engine rebuild (may have been from head gasket failure too, not sure now) then the next week, after the rebuild, the engine blew up-----it was caused by a failed oil pump and totally unrelated to the first problem.

Can you get a "non-runner" from a scrappie etc, and take the tappets from it?

 

Sounds like you and I could both do with some good luck for a change!

[Guest j_mchattie]

But replacing old tappets for old - wont help long term.

Id be better off getting new ones.

 

Someone suggested that my oil pump might have died - but again, all was fine before the overhaul - so are the garage to be questioned? where do i stand on this?

 

thanks

[Guest j_mchattie]

The garage insisted (of course) that they were not to blame for my tappets suddenly not working. I did try to argue it my way - and so i should, they were fine before. Anyway, ive found a motor factor that does the tappets at a better price. I got all 16 for

[Ivor_E_Tower]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you....

[Guest j_mchattie]

Yes! the tappets worked. 9 of the 16 had collapsed and would not hold oil.

Its super quiet now, there was a slight tick which i thought was the injectors, but no - the damn tappets!

 

The idle is still a little rough, im hopeing the ECU will do some magic over time and compensate.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Well that is great news. Don't worry about the idel for now, let all the new bits bed in nicely for a few hundred miles. Then, if you still have lumpy idle, you could risk the trick of disconnecting the battery for an hour so that any "learnt" settings are lost, and re-programmed from your driving style.

Happy motoring, and happy Christmas seeing as it's only 8 days away.