Have i cooked new engine?

[buckman67]

make sure you get green or blue coolant, dont get the red/pink stuff.

I don\'t think this applies any more, as long as the coolant is ethyline glyco based its OK.  Pip at WGT rebuilt my engine last year and he filled it up with pink stuff so it must be okay...cos he knows stuff.

[arrouk]

yes it does apply, the pink stuff turns acidic after approx 24 months. i think its ok as long as its changed regular.

the temps you were seeing were prob inaccurate due to the air pockets in the system, id drain and re fill and go from there. also there is a drain plug on the center housing under the spark plugs, id check and make sure that there is no leak on this or the one in the rad.

matt

[chrisJDM]

the pink stuff is ok for a bit but if you leave it in there a long time as arrouk has said it turns acidic, and this can affect the seals and cause problems

[David Nock (RIP)]

I stress I don\'t know a thing about FD\'s, but I\'ve been around antifreeze changing a long time.
Firstly Bluecol antifreeze, changed every 3 years at 40% to 60% water, will protect against more or less anything, forever.
Secondly, it does sound like water level is not right. Drain and refill is good advice. With older cars like FB you would refill with the heater controls open, refilling until the coolant is overflowing from radiator into the expansion bottle, then \'squidge\' the main hoses about to make air bubbles come up into the top of the rad. Top up coolant. Run car on road for 5 mins only. Stop and check for more air in rad. - CAREFUL NOW - watch out now for hot coolant under pressure! If OK, run back home. Let it cool then squidge pipes about again. Repeat this pantomime a couple of times and you can be reasonably sure no air is left.
If your Valvoline stuff is good, and it\'s new and clear you could strain it and put it back in with more of the same to top up.
Thirdly - something might be wrong with your cooling fan? Perhaps coolant was originally OK but the fan not cutting in damaged things in car wash?

As at the beginning, this is an oldschool viewpoint intended to help - if the FD doesn\'t have an expansion system like this then ignore that bit.

[arrouk]

all seams to be good solid advice david, as mentioned above though make sure you blead the TB coolent pipes also.

matt

[ro284]

Sure sounds like air-lock, i follow the Refill and bleed route, but i think while i was at it i would change the stat, the PFC can be tuned for the fans to come on at a lowet temp! i would also check that the fans do actually work, mine didn\'t!  my signal wire from the thermoswitch to the relay had broken down, fan switch mod is a good idea too,
Good luck Bob

[CraigWWW]

Okay, loads of help there, cheers guys.:cheers

I have a custom alloy rad with twin SPL fans and they seem to be working fine. So that shouldnt be a problem.

The Valvoline coolant AF is RED in colour, supposed to last 5years guaranteed. I will change to the blue stuff when draining and refilling just for good measure.

I am hoping as said above, that the air pockets have caused inaccurate temp readings and the engine hasnt been damaged!

Can anyone explain why the PFC and stock guage were so wildly different? Do they have seperate/different sensors or work from the same one?

At work today but dying to get home and get this sorted! Meant to be having a wee race tomorrow with my uncles Noble! (all on private road of course!):driving

Many thanks again guys!

[RobbieRX-7]

The pfc takes it readings from a diffrent sensor to the stock water gauge. There is one behind the filler neck and the other one is on the rear plate of the engine. Definitly sound like an airlock because you have being getting wild readings on 2 different sensors!