Think my engine may be goosed!

[nikp]

This weekend have visitted my girlfriends parents. On friday i saw the coolant system behaving oddly - gaining temp on the motorway (Not too dangerous levels, but raising none-the-less) and taking a while to cool down too.

So, we go to leave tonight, which requird us to travel round the M25. So, there we are getting stuck in lots of realy slow bad traffic,and then just a few miles after south mimms services in a lot of traffic the coolant alarm went off at operating temperature! :eek So i pull over, and let her cool down as much as possible. Fortunately, i had some water on me as the coolant alarm had been going off a few times. So i refill the filler neck, taking quite a bit of coolant in process.

We leave the car to cool down a bit more, and the traffic to eae up a bit, and head off, planning to turn round and head back to my girlfriends parents, defeated, and quite a bit dejected . On the journey back, the traffic was fine, and the temp was also!  :xconfused

Pulled up outside the house, and the buzzer goes off, and the temp goes up a bit, but not a lot! I popped the bonnet, and had a ooksy around. There was a bit of water around where the hose from the AST leaves to join with the expansion tank. And also some cooant near the join at the base of the AST - but no obvious signs of the AST cracking - but maybe it has!? I dunno!

So, we\'re going to leave the car until tomorrow, fill the coolant up again, and travel back when the traffic is better. We\'re going to take lots of bottles of water with us, and hopefully pop in to carls on the way so he can check things out....hopefully he\'ll be available! (Knowing my luck he\'ll be away on holiday!!) Oh, and we live in bristol and are currently in Essex so carls place is on the way.

(Oh, and sorry for the long post!)

[Spartacus]

If you or the car needs a rest (or water) on the way back I\'m in Cheshunt just off M25 j25 give me a call should you need to on 0774 0145783

Phil

[AndyGen3]

I had this with my last fd... turned out to be the waterpump!

Is there signs of water under the car when its left sitting up?

[davehg]

sorry nik sounds like water seals, just dont let it overheat or you will need new plates and thats big bucks..

letme know if you need a hand mate

[Oedipus Rex]

sorry nik sounds like water seals, just dont let it overheat or you will need new plates and thats big bucks..

letme know if you need a hand mate

You\'d be surprised.

I thought I had lost water seals 3 times. First was a hole in the rad, second was a faulty AST cap and the third was a air lock in the system from before I replaced the AST cap.


It\'s not always terminal so keep your chin up mate, you might be pleasantly surprised.

[clive]

This weekend have visitted my girlfriends parents. On friday i saw the coolant system behaving oddly - gaining temp on the motorway (Not too dangerous levels, but raising none-the-less) and taking a while to cool down too.

Hi Nik, do you have an undertray fitted as the symptoms on the motorway would dictate you don\'t

[nikp]

Cheers for the words of encouragement. I guess it could be a whole host of things, and we shall see tomorrow!

Cheers Phil, may be dropping in, you never know!

And cheers Dave, you also never know, may be calling on you for a hand! I shall update when i know more

[nikp]

Hi Clive, yes i do. I\'m running a v-mount intercooler setup, and it has so far proved reliable - ran up to pips and back with no problems whatsover.

[iaint]

The buzzer goes off for two reasons -

1) Dangerous temps.  Don\'t be fooled by the temp gauge though as it\'ll be reading around the middle even with 120C temps.

2) Low water level.  I suspect this is the cause of yours sounding.

As for where the water\'s going... you know it could be simple (failed hose, tank or pump) or costly - water seals.  Get the coolant system pressure tested with the lower plugs removed.  If water comes out of the holes then it\'s seal failure.

It does sound like the symptoms mine had when the seals went - do you regularly get the buzzer when starting from cold and have to top up?

Could be a leak round the AST - if it is then the water may not be drawn back from the expansion tank when things cool down which would leave it low next time you start up.  This could be a leak or pressure cap problem.

[nikp]

I often have to top upfrom cold. The AST pressure cap is about 3 months old.

It may be a complete red herring, but i noticed some coolant around the horizontal join in the AST, so was wondering whether there may be a pin hole crack in the AST - it is the standard plastic one, and i have relocated it to very near the first turbo. So maybe the extra heat has caused a hairline split. Not sure if i\'d get these symptoms if it had split though.

[allstaruk]

I\'d take a good look at the ast first, even if it is leaking the water will evapourate off very quickly if you\'ve moved it next to the turbo\'s.

A

[nikp]

Well, here\'s an update on this after travelling from essex to bristol.

After adjusting the ast which due to it\'s relocation, was a bit wonky, and not perfectly vertical, and a suspected, or possible, crack down the horizontal seam which i used silicone sealant on i stocked up on plenty of water and left to travel nervously round the M25 and down the M4 with a planned stop off just after south mims for some petrol, thinking it would be a good chance to check the coolant situation.

Basically, it all went smoothly! Nothing apparently wrong! While the temp. gauge that\'s plumbed in just after the radiator varied a bit from just below 85, to just over 85 on steady cruise, the apexi showed a completely static 85 for the water temp. Even dropping slightly at one point to 84.

The temp rose to about 90 at one point after starting her up at the services and heading off onto the motorway, and it took a few minutes for it to get back down to 85, but the temp did get back down. I guess the real trial would be getting stuck in some traffic, as we didn\'t really hit any this time. Although there was a bit in Bristol, and the temps came down fine. So, basically, i don\'t really know!!

[Spartacus]

Glad you made it back anyhow, it’s a lot more comfortable looking for problems on home ground.

[FD3UK]

Glad to see you made it home without to much drama. Bet your eyes were glued to temp gauge.

Time for a nice new alloy AST me thinks  :yes

[nikp]

Time for a nice new alloy AST me thinks

I\'m planning on ditching it completely! I need to get the filler cap, ala here