Technical Coolant Issue?

Yellow Peril · Aug 24, 2011

Very occaisonally and with no rhyme or reason, the coolant tank blows a small quantity of coolant out of the header tank cap. My first thought was a duff pressure valve in the cap, but a new cap has failed to cure it.

Absolutely no signs of anything else wrong with the engine. Any ideas chaps?

Shadeyman · Aug 24, 2011

Something is pressurising the system, could be something simple like over filling it with water or something more serious like a faulty head gasket.

So, have you any other symptoms, might help diagnose the cause?

Yellow Peril · Aug 24, 2011

Shadeyman said:
Something is pressurising the system, could be something simple like over filling it with water or something more serious like a faulty head gasket.

So, have you any other symptoms, might help diagnose the cause?

As I said in my OP, absolutely nothing else apparently wrong. No steam from the exhaust, no emulsion in the oil (or filler cap) and it's running fine and dandy. Bit of a mystery...

Shadeyman · Aug 24, 2011

As there's deffinately no other issuses are you sure your not over filling it?

Deckchair5 · Aug 24, 2011

I would think you have a small air lock trapped in the system, most probably in the radiator circuit as that only comes into operation to get rid of excess heat and it would also need to get pretty hot, up to rad fan operating temp before the air bubble starting to expand significantly. The air expands much more than the water of course = excess volume + pressure and it vents out the cap

Yellow Peril · Aug 24, 2011

Thanks chaps. So does that mean that each time it spits a bit out, a bit more of the trapped air lock is cleared?

Deckchair5 · Aug 24, 2011

Not really, it expands the volume, pushes excess fluid out and then contracts again as it cools and you top it up again

Yellow Peril · Aug 24, 2011

Deckchair5 said:
Not really, it expands the volume, pushes excess fluid out and then contracts again as it cools and you top it up again

Hmmm so how do I get rid of it?

Morty Mort · Aug 25, 2011

On the 1.6 it is a bleed screw around the area where the aircon enters the bulkhead. Open it and let it drip. I had mine dripping for 20 minutes when I changed my radiator to be sure. You don't loose much coolant, but make sure it is hot outside, don't turn on the heater and let the car idle after having it on operating temp (take a drive). Overfilling will not lead to this, as mine has been overfilled since the rad change...

Deckchair5 · Aug 25, 2011

Yes follow the bleed procedure for the Abarth exactly and in stubborn cases do it again a few days later once all the air has moved around and collected

Yellow Peril · Aug 25, 2011

Deckchair5 said:
Yes follow the bleed procedure for the Abarth exactly and in stubborn cases do it again a few days later once all the air has moved around and collected

Thanx. So bleeding is done with the engine running, yes? Anyone know where the all the bleed nipples are on the 2.4 cooling system? I believe I read there is one hidden on the top of the rad...

Deckchair5 · Aug 25, 2011

So bleeding is done with the engine running, yes?
Oh yes

Do you have eLearn CD? That explains the procedure and shows bleed points

Yellow Peril · Aug 25, 2011

Deckchair5 said:
Do you have eLearn CD? That explains the procedure and shows bleed points

Sadly no. Is it possible to cut and paste the relevant section and maybe PM me?

Deckchair5 · Aug 25, 2011

Sorry, I'm away at the moment. Perhaps someone can find and post up the relevant diagrams for a 2.4 engine. Bleeding procedures are pretty much the same for most cars so almost any workshop manual will do the job

Davren · Aug 25, 2011

This is the diagram and procedure from eLEARN. Not a very good picture, but you can get an idea where the bleed points (2 and 3 on the diagram) should be.
.

Yellow Peril · Aug 25, 2011

You're a star Dav, many thanks indeed.

Yellow Peril · Aug 25, 2011

I spoke too soon Dav! I've looked at the car tonight, and neither of the bleed nipples shown is present! Is there anything on eLearn about a later version perhaps?

Davren · Aug 25, 2011

No.. that's the only diagram for the 2.4 on eLEARN. However ePER shows the radiator bleed screw (item #2) on the opposite side of the radiator. (top right corner at the back of the radiator looking from the front of the car).

It also shows what may be a bleed screw (item #13) on the aluminium? pipe across the front of the engine.

It also shows a small boss on top of the heater hose where a bleed screw may go but doesn't show the screw as a seperate part.
.

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