My gfs dad has just bought a '97 1.4 bravo. It wasn't till he was driving it home he found an overheating problem so called me over.
Car was cold when i got there, but i noticed the coolant bottle was wet as if coolant had poured out of the cap. Had a look in and there was barely any coolant left in there. Checked oil - good level, no mayo anywhere and fairly new from the look and feel of it.
Started it up and pulled the oil breather pipe off - no noticable air movement. Had the coolant cap off and as it came up to temp, thermostat opened and the coolant began to bubble. As i revved the engine, the coolant would bubble more vigorusly. Also a fair bit of smoke/steam from the exhaust while revving. It still drives really well, plently of pull. Rad fan never comes on, despite the temp needle sky rocketting!
To me this clearly says headgasket, but any other possible causes before i give him the bad news? also anyone done a 1.4 HG? how much in parts and how long to do? difficult? does the head need to be fully stripped to be skimmed for these engines? (i've done the 1.2 8v HGs before.)
Car was cold when i got there, but i noticed the coolant bottle was wet as if coolant had poured out of the cap. Had a look in and there was barely any coolant left in there. Checked oil - good level, no mayo anywhere and fairly new from the look and feel of it.
Started it up and pulled the oil breather pipe off - no noticable air movement. Had the coolant cap off and as it came up to temp, thermostat opened and the coolant began to bubble. As i revved the engine, the coolant would bubble more vigorusly. Also a fair bit of smoke/steam from the exhaust while revving. It still drives really well, plently of pull. Rad fan never comes on, despite the temp needle sky rocketting!
To me this clearly says headgasket, but any other possible causes before i give him the bad news? also anyone done a 1.4 HG? how much in parts and how long to do? difficult? does the head need to be fully stripped to be skimmed for these engines? (i've done the 1.2 8v HGs before.)
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