Engine is using water and suspected air leak...

[dthebuk]

Right!!! Had the car out today for the first time in months, It was brilliant, handles perfectly and its damn fast compared to the bimmer i was driving.

Anyway after a 60 mile round trip + a fair amount of idling including the MOT, the coolant buzzer came on, so I turned the car off then after a while topped it up with water. It took about half a litre to bring it up to the top, though the overflow is now completely. I tried cranking the engine without the egi fuse to check for bubbles, and there were none. Am i right in thinking this means that the engine is fine? I tried this when the overflow was empty, not sure how this effects the test. Just after cranking, the water level went down by about a 2-3 cm (this is in the filler for the rad).

There are no signs of a water leak from the rad and pipes. I don\'t think theres anything coming from the rad cap though i need to double check. Also no white smoke from the exhuast.

Ive recently had the turbo etc off so im guessing that maybe i didn\'t tighten one of the water feed\'s enough, would it be obvious if this was the case?


The car is also suffering from idle problems since the turbo has gone back on (after wategate porting), which im assuming is down to some sort of air leak. Checked the resistance across the tps and it showed 2ohm\'s for closed (should be 1) and went up to about 5 for fully open. Ive adjusted the back valve so it almost is on the higest idle speed, though it currently idles around 500-700 rpm and sometimes stalls once warm.



Anyone have any ideas on what this could be? or am i on the right track.


Any info you guys could give would be awesome

cheers

[pdtaylor18]

You will need to get that TPS right before you do anything else and then do the idle setup.  
if you had a coolant leak around the turbo you would definately smell it if you have antifreeze in the mixture and probably even hear it,especially when hot.

idle problems may well be just the TPS but a vac/air leak would also cause these symptoms. make sure your turbo inlet hose is on tightly as it may be drawing unmetered air into the system.

[dthebuk]

ah right, Am i right in thinking i adjust the screw on the tps so the connector gives out a resistance of 1 ohm, start the car  then adjust the back valve to set the idle?. Well when i first started the car it did smell, though i figured that was wd40 which i used when trying to fit all the hose\'s back together. Sounds like you\'re right though, I can definitely hear something different in the engine bay.

[pdtaylor18]

This TPS check must be done when its hot or assist the waxothermo jobby on the side of the TB so its not in contact with the cam arm. then adjust to get 1K ohms from i think the green and black wires. you are suppose to go through the back of the pins or see what the reading is at the ECU but i disconnect the plug and do it that way.
Adjust the BAC screw to get that idle around 750/800 RPM.

[dthebuk]

ah right. I did it when it was cold as the intercooler had to come off. I\'ll just get some gloves on. Cheers for the help, i was seriously getting close to selling/stripping, i just want it to work!!!

[pdtaylor18]

needs to be hot for sure

[dthebuk]

Regarding te water leak, will there be any obvious signs of this? Like an anti freeze build up or something?