ADD COOLANT buzzer/light HELP

[wiggy]

HI all

Need some techy advice about the above....

Coming back from Lincolnshire last night after driving to a few places on the way home and travelling down the motorway for about 90 mins I get off at my junction and within about 5 mins the add coolant buzzer and light came on. Being new to Rex ownership my arse dropped. I carried on and it soon went off....phew. Just before getting home, on it come again??

I waited for it to cool and checked the level, topped it up (very very little needed) and left it. Today, drove to manchester via Asda, just as I pulled in to Asda car part it came on again while trying to find a space. on all of these times the temp needle was sat where it should be so I wasn\'t that concerned. Turned off and left it for a bit to cool, switched the ignition on and the fans started, then the buzzer came on again (engine off) switched the fans on in the car and it was only blowing warm air out so again I\'m thinking its not over heating otherwise the air would be quite hot.

Eventually when the temp needle reached about 1/4 the way up the fans turned off.

Carried on to manc down the motorway, no buzzer or light, gets to the round about off the motorway and within about 10 secs, on it comes, drive off and it goes off almost instantly. Stop at some lights, same thing, as soon as I drive off, off it goes?

On the way home, same drill, about 3-4 times it came on, usually when stopped or going slow (once on the motorway doing about 70 for a few seconds) Now this is pissing me off as its the most annoying noise known to man.

When I got home it came on again as I was reversing in front of the house. Stopped the car and I can hear bubbling, checked under the bonnet, no leaks anywhere or steam coming out so I can\'t se it being a leak??

So, whats going on?? Only things I can think of are.

****ed engine (worst case) but I can\'t see steam coming from the zorst which is normally the case with water getting into the combustion chambers
****ed level sensor (by the way, where is this located?)
Air lock somewhere?
Knackered thermostat?

Please help as the car is taking me to work tomorrow....

Thanks

[wiggy]

Just been out and checked it after a full cool down and it has lost some water this time??

Dunno where its gone as I couldn\'t see any leaks or steam before??

HELP!!!!!

[wiggy]

Out of interest, what temp should these things run at? I am going to hook up the Defi water temp gauge tomorrow and take it for a spin, I need to know what max temp I should be looking at before turning off.....don\'t want to do any damage if I can help it.

I am going to bleed the system as well, see if that helps???

Maybe check the stat too, is this easy to change/get out?

Thanks

[g11ary]

fd\'s can be very fickle with water, it does not sound like a problem, but give no garentees, when driving on the motorway because you are maintaning a resonable high rpm and constant speed the water tends to hold at a give level, when you come off the m/way teh revs and speed drop and so does the water level, hence you are getting this on off of the buzzer, it is probably a air pocket that needs to natureally releave its self, just keep an eye on it and carry spare water, one thing you must not do is over fill the plastic water bottle on the left by light as that will induse the engine to throw water out, fill only by the metal filler neck that is bolted to the block. Hopefully in a couple of days this will have forced the air out, I have know cars to do this in the extreme for weeks, but generally as a rule its days. If watching Defi, dont let it go above 105/110 max.

[gsb876]

Hello Wiggy,

right if you get the defi gauges as you drive the temp should be around 77-90oC depending on how warm the day is, at idle this can jump to 95oC but no problem there.

If however you are driving on the M-way this time of year the water temp will around 77oC, if while driving this goes to over 90oC on the M-way theres possibly a problem with the cooling system ie RAD / INTERCOOLER / LEAK???

If you can bleed the system and get any air pockets out that may be there, once you have bled the system and topped up your normal supply of coolant/water go for a drive now without the gauges you wont know what the water temp is but look for the syptoms again, careful though as if the stock gauge moves stop immediately asthat only moves once the water temp has exceeded 110oC!!!!

If unsure get the car to a specialist as overheating = rebuild time!!!:(

Gurj

PS - all rx\'s run at different water temps but i have given an approx summary of water temps ok buddy.

[wiggy]

Thanks for the replies I have to say you have put my mind at ease somewhat more than it was before. I was naturally assuming the worst...

OK then, so the only question now is, wheres best to plumb the Defi in and wheres the best place to run the wires through the firewall??

I\'ll let you know the outcome

Thanks again

[wiggy]

Update:

Drove it to work today as my boss was maoning about having the day off (like they do) so I risked it.

Well I\'m here anyway, light and buzzer came on just as I got stuck in traffic. Seeing as there was nothing I could do except gauge watch (no Defi yet) I carried on.

After about 4-5 mins stuck in traffic creeping along the light and buzzer went off. This stayed the case all the way to work (approx another 10-15 mins stuck in traffic creeping along. I got to the works car park and parked it up leaving it running for a few moments. Then it comes on again....ARGHHH just as I had thought the bastard had sorted itself....

It\'s deffo not overheating, so its looking like g11ary said is true (HOPEFULLY) and it will go away in a few days....fingers, legs, toes, balls etc crossed :confused:

Cheers all I\'ll keep ya posted on the outcome

Regards

[iaint]

[voice-of-doom-mode]
This is exactly what mine was doing and it was a feature of the water seals beginning to fail - the coolant system was getting over-pressurised by exhaust gasses.

Sometimes coolant issues can be due to airlocks or split pipes but in this case it sounds all too familiar.  You sould get it checked out ASAP by a rotary knowledgable person.
[/voice-of-doom-mode]

Iain

[wiggy]

ARSE...

Just as I was starting to think it was a glitch that would go away

Hopefully it will last the week and I can get it to WGT or similar next week for them to check out.

Just out of interest, if its gettting gassed up by the exhaust that suggests a leak somewhere that should show up on a pressure test of the system?? I can do this easy enough to see whats going on. Also in cases like this on a std engine the coolant usually smells of exhaust gas, I\'ll have a sniff at lunch...ooo errr

Or would a compression test be better?

Cheers

[iaint]

Compression check might show something up or it might not.

Having the coolant sysytem pressure checked with the lower plugs out will be a better indicator of water-seal failure.

I drove mine daily from July to December with no real issues - just needed to carry coolant with me to top up before each journey... did about 9k miles but it got worse and worse - just before the rebuild it was starting on one rotor and took a while to get going properly!

It should last until you get a chance to have it looked at properly.  I used WGT for my rebuild, Pip should eb able to give you a rundown of the problem pretty quickly.

Iain

[wiggy]

Thanks for that info, good to know if it is that it won\'t be going bang in the near future.

Just out of interest, did yours do the add coolant thing every trip?

I\'ve just been out and had a sniff of the coolant and it smells fine, no fuel or exhaust smells.

Also, been for a drive in it round town just now, getting stuck at as many traffic lights as poss with traffic, gave it some welly once warmed up to get it hot, did a few more traffic jams and nothing...not a dicky bird?? So its either intermitent and will get worse as you say or its gone (air lock somewhere)....

fingers crossed its the latter.

regards

[iaint]

it went in phases!  I always made sure I was carrying coolant with me but didn\'t need it every trip.

The buzzer would sound for 30 seconds or so at the start of a trip - until the coolant started to get some heat in it I guess.

Iain

[wiggy]

Maybe thats where we differ?

Mine only ever comes on once the engine has got up to temp and I stop in traffic or at lights. Once on the move again it stops, sometimes it would come on for minutes, other times a couple of seconds.

I am hoping on the way home tonight it won\'t come on at all PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE......

I have a 5ltr tub of coolant in the boot just in case though;)

[gsb876]

Wiggy matey,

dont keep crossing your fingers get it to a specialist because if there is a problem somewhere you are making it worse by driving around everywhere:(

[wiggy]

I know I was getting cramps as well

I will be taking it to WGT at the weekend or next week as I am off all week. I can\'t do bugger all until then because of working :rolleyes:

I just hope it all holds out till then and it will be a happy ending and they all lived happily ever after and not driven into the local river :reallymad