er basiaclly after a long drive to nottingham i stopped to drop off a friend and the add coolant light and buzzer came on. I turned off the engine straight away, popped the hood and could hear some sort of fizzing (cant really explain) of fluid. The car was also producing no smoke through the exhaust.
Temp gauge reads normal, which is about 1/3 of the way up.
Do you think its safe to drive the car home (about 30 miles?)
also any idea whats happened? Theres more than enough coolant in the resevior still, and none has expanded out.
cheers :cheers
Check ur expansion tank exit n c if its blocked. My stock temp was normal when my system went pop! Aftermarket temp was at 100deg c.
If ur expansion tank is fuller than normal may b coolant has come out but nt enough to flow out the pipe. When the system cools the expansion tank level shoud drop as coolant goes bak into system. My coolant light was intermittant on/off b4 pop.
Nt sure if this helps u?!
Maybe start sign of water seals?
hmm
just drove it home, the light came on intermittently. The engine still handled fine tho, reading pretty cold too on the stock temp gauge.
but the car is producing no smoke at all now, surely with a water seal failure it would smoke?
The filler cap on mine came loose once (on my first trip to Rotorstock in fact). I had topped the water up before setting off and I know I tightened it correctly. I had stopped a couple of miles from SPod to wait for a mate. When he arrived BuZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Think it had just got hot on the drive and slipped into the position between closed and off. It could be something as silly as this. Also I think the spings on the cap have been known to fail.
could be the cap..
like pete once said, check for mayo on the cap.
i wouldnt trust the stock temp gauge much!
cool is < 60 deg c ish
60 < ok temp < 110 ish
110 < hot
i dunt think mine smoked much from exhaust after a long drive.
but i can only speak form my exp and i could be completely wrong! (hope i am as its a pain if its water seal!!)
:)
read the post by \'oldrotary\'
http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?p=584807&posted=1#post584807
maybe try that?
if you too lazy to read then basically...
"an indication of water seal failure, when the engine is running the top rad hose should be just as easy to squeezy as if the engine is off"
cheers for the advice guys
could this be the problem? doesn\'t look too good to me
(http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8317/photo1023an5.jpg)
why does that not look good? or is it me being thick..?!?!
if the seal is gone on the cap then it means the cap is not doing its job properly causing it to overheat?
flush out the system to get any rubber out of system n new cap then good to go?
the rubber seal has just come off all around the goldy/brass bit.
only half of it is still on :P
Er dunno about flushing, im stuck in notts and have no tools.
Also i tried to flush it once and the screw at the bottom of the rad had a ruined socket so i couldnt get it off. eeep.
no chance of getting a rad cap and limping home?
Is the cap from an EGI the same as a Tubby II - if so I have a spare one that you can have from my old rad - the cap was good - just the radiator was swiss cheese :Giggle
Just have no idea if they are the same pressure or size even - as they fit in different places - but given you have both cars - t\'would be easy to check ;)
Quote from: Prof;584891Is the cap from an EGI the same as a Tubby II - if so I have a spare one that you can have from my old rad - the cap was good - just the radiator was swiss cheese :Giggle
Just have no idea if they are the same pressure or size even - as they fit in different places - but given you have both cars - t\'would be easy to check ;)
ill get back to you in a week as the TII is at home and im at uni :(
looks like this one wont be driven for a while.
Should be able to pop home this week
I have a TII one, think operate the same as EGI, 0.9? Anyway if you want one I have one for the postage costs. Just email me your address mate.
awesome, i shall take you up on that pete.
i\'ll send u a pm 2mo
If the rad cap isnt sealing properly then yes it can cause your symptoms, as when the system is pressurising the water will just exit from the cap making you low on water.
cheers for the reassurance steve :D
Looks like it could be the problem. Fingers crossed thats all it is. Nice easy fixes are the best!
okey doke, still haven\'t had much of a chance to do anything.
But i added water to the system, from where the rad cap is, check for bubbles when cranking, there was nothing :D
Also had the car running with a TII rad cap (thanks to Pete for sending me one quickly :D) , this is also leaking, i don\'t think its faulty, i think its just different to the egi cap as it doesn\'t seem to have a rubber seal, shall get a pic later tonight. Managed to warm the warm the car up fully before seeing the steaming coolant coming out, which is good. Also once warm the car was producing no smoke out the back :D
Also i believe the expansion tank is overfilled, Even though the sad had lost water the expansion tank remained the same? Not sure how the expansion tank works, so if someone could clear that up for me it would be great. :D
now where can i get an egi rad cap from?
cheers :D
The expansion tank will only work properly if the rad cap is forming a seal.
Basically the system will pressurize when running, so will push any extra coolant into the expansion tank, and then when it cools, if the coolant is on the low side, the vacuum caused as the coolant cools will pull some back in to the radiator. The one thing to remember is the long pipe is the one that needs to go into the liquid otherwise it won\'t work - seen some expansion tanks plumbed the wrong way :eek