help.. cooling system goes pop!

L18M · January 26, 2009, 12:21:07 AM

Quote from: antnicuk;578341it sounds like your water seals have gone in the engine and are pressurising the water system. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but exactly the same happened to me. Thats why you also blew the seal on your water pump. It will just continue to blow the weakest link.

oh.. what are the other symptoms of water seal failure? if any?

L18M · January 26, 2009, 12:23:49 AM

Quote from: m1tch;578396sounds like time for.....heavier porting

:chat:chat:chat thats the only plus side that will come out of this if its a blown water seal :Laugh:Laugh:Laugh
but what ports..?
mild / large?
secondaries only..?
bridge port..?

its only a weekend car really =p

L18M · January 26, 2009, 12:25:16 AM

thanks everyone for their input.. will go and flush rad & engine when i have time & still how to check thermostat is working ok?

cheers =)

pdtaylor18 · January 26, 2009, 08:39:36 AM

all you are checking for on a rad at this stage is that water is able to flow through it freely, a pressure check is something else. With the engine you can go through the top and out via the bottom hose and also dont forget to flush out through your drain point by the passenger side engine mount. This may well be all in vain as reading back at your problems with water I think you have been masking water loss but you have nothing to lose and at least you can discount the above before spending hard earned cash on rebuild.
The hose I \'ll send you. You will need one anyway.
have a look in your oil fill cap and see how much mayo is in there, you will sometimes get a bit, also see how quick it pressurises from cold as it should take a fair bit of time,if its too quick then it could be that its being pressurisewd from within.

PM sent as well

Prof · January 26, 2009, 09:29:33 AM

You definitely have a leak somewhere - whether it\'s the water seals or not will only be known for sure if you take the engine out and get it apart.

However, before doing something so drastic, there are some things you can check:

If it is the water seals going/gone then any or all of the below may happen:

1) Pressurized coolant - whilst the engine is running, the coolant will be forced back into the expansion bottle and may even \'boil\' out of the exit pipe from there.

2) You can get a chemical check done on the coolant to check for combustion products, their presence indicates a failure.

3) Check for mayo in the oil filler cap - the resulting froth from mixing oil and water will work it\'s way to the top.

4) Whitish and sweet smelling smoke from the exhaust on startup - when the engine is starting and first runs, it will draw some of the coolant into the engine and out through the exhaust - the resulting steam smells sweet because of the antifreeze.

It could be a leak somewhere else in the system - and not the water seals - you should check the following:

1) Coolant pipe from the back of the water pump to the BAC valve

2) Line from the BAC to the throttle body

3) Line from throttle body to engine block (this is underneath the throttle body, but you may be able to see it with a small torch as you have no top mount intercooler now - look from the back (bulkhead side).

4) Coolant line that runs from midway down the engine block on the passenger side into bulkhead for the heater matrix

5) Return line that come from bulkhead back to the lower radiator inlet.

6) Heater Matrix could be leaking - check for sweet smelling damp patches on the carpets in the footwells.

7) Check both top and bottom rad hoses and their joins - it\'s not uncommon to lose coolant from the bottom one - as it\'s harder to get to and doesn\'t get tightened up properley.

Check the radiator for leaks - you could have coolant weeping out of the rad.

Silverstone Autosport · January 26, 2009, 10:16:39 AM

Hi, I hate to say it but reading your post it does sound like your water seal may have gone, you can pop it down to us and we can take a look at it for you if this helps or we do offer a car collection service as it might pay not to drive it. Cheers

L18M · January 26, 2009, 02:09:14 PM

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i had a look inside the pipe and saw a 2" long crack on the inside of the pipe on the opposite side of the split.
have taken the thermostat out and it moves as it should against the spring. so i dont think that is to blame =(

will flush system out prob tmr when i have more time n look for leaks.
failing that, will go garage n get system pressure tested. this will also indicate if exhaust gasses are getting in cooling system.
then take it from there.

Prof:
1) from what i remember coolant did boil out of the expansion tank when it first overheated. the expansion tank was literally boiling.

2) asked my local garage about chemical check but they cant do it. can only pressure check the system.

3) no mayo on rad cap

4) i didnt recall it smelling particularly sweet.. but then i do have a sweet tooth so if i didnt think it was sweet then maybe it might be sweet to others. does smell on fuel on idle though.

*fingers crossed*
*still hoping that its not water seal*
*worst case scenario.. ported engine ;p *
what a poo start to 2009 and the chinese new year!

pdtaylor18 · January 26, 2009, 03:37:50 PM

At least its all uphill from here though!!

m1tch · January 26, 2009, 10:35:15 PM

*chants* porting porting porting

I now have a 54mm flywheel socket lol

L18M · January 27, 2009, 12:17:49 AM

Quote from: LINDOP MOTORSPORT;578482Hi, I hate to say it but reading your post it does sound like your water seal may have gone, you can pop it down to us and we can take a look at it for you if this helps or we do offer a car collection service as it might pay not to drive it. Cheers

thanks for the info.. let me look into it and can get back to you later if need be =)

L18M · January 27, 2009, 12:18:40 AM

Quote from: pdtaylor18;578593At least its all uphill from here though!!

the only thing that wont be goin up are my stack of $$$ lol

mitch: yes yes. you DONT have to tell me twice!!! :Giggle
if it is water seal then def porting!!! but where n how big.. i dont know :3Confused
if i go HUGE then i might as well go bigger fmic / v mount etc.. but unfortunatly for me the term \'money is no object\' does NOT apply to me =\'(

L18M · January 29, 2009, 12:51:08 AM

just out of interest.. if the water seals are gone.. what are the chances its just the gaskets thats gone rather than problems with the actual housing?

L18M · January 30, 2009, 12:53:12 PM

finally got round to flushing the cooling system.. the rad flows ok.. but when i did the engine side.. i stuck the hose where the top rad pipe goes n water came straight out where the lower rad goes almost instantaneously.
is that right?

grinder · January 30, 2009, 01:01:04 PM

errr yeah i think so - the water channels arent that big - so its not as if you are filling the housings up first and then it flushing thru

did a load of crap come out with flushing it

and whilst you are messing - time to get the toothbrush out and give the engine bay a good clean

L18M · January 30, 2009, 01:06:55 PM

Quote from: grinder;579781errr yeah i think so - the water channels arent that big - so its not as if you are filling the housings up first and then it flushing thru

did a load of crap come out with flushing it

and whilst you are messing - time to get the toothbrush out and give the engine bay a good clean

no crap came out as expected as i only flushed it 2 mths ago and water pump was replaced about a mth ago.
time to fit the rad pipes back n go garage for pressure test etc..

thanks