Car has been running on 3 cylinders for about 30 miles and just noticed coolant level in expansion tank has risen well above the max mark. Is there an explanation for this? Just waiting for new coil pack to come in to local factors. Is it safe to drive a bit further on 3 cylinders?
Technical coolant level raised.
- Thread starter jim cooper
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Technical coolant level raised.
With the car "hot" but the engine not running, check the temperature of the radiatore using one of those laser thermometers.. or by hand (no fingers into the fan, obviously). If it's cool at the top but hot at the bottom you could have gas in the rad'. That gas pressure would lift the coolant level, eventually force coolant/vapour out of the cap and "pressurise" the system (the hoses will feel hard).
If you have gas in the rad, then the car may overheat, since you won't get coolant flow. The temperature gauge may actually drop, since gas in the area of the sensor would be cooler than the coolant in the block, so don't rely on the gauge for now.
You will also be dumping unburnt fuel down the exhaust from the affected cylinder, which can damage the lambda and the catalyst, so if it was me, I would only drive it minimally, e.g to move it to round the corner or where you will park it while it's being fixed/set fire to it when you realise it'll cost too much.
You can relieve the pressure at the top by undoing the coolant reservoir cap (when it's all cold, makes things less exciting) and giving the hoses a good squeeze but the rad' can usually only be purged by bleeding it.
If the cylinder appears to be misfiring it could be because there's a duff coil or plug.. but a misfire and gas in the system is usually a head gasket.
Ralf S.
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Got a new set of coils and all seems OK now. I may have had too much coolant in the system so took a bit out. Hoping it was nothing worse than a duff coil and fingers crossed the head gasket is undamaged.
