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Cooling system problems

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Cooling system problems

R

ramblingjack

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Every so often my temp guage goes way up and i boil over.The fan doesn't kick in for some reason,must be broken,but they are £160 plus vat and i cant afford one at present.Anyway,when the engine has cooled down and i top it up with water,if i let it idle without the cap on the tank then the water seems to push up and spill over the top,then a couple of bubbles appear and the water goes back down,does that mean i've got an air lock or is that normal?If anyone can reccomend a good garage in Northants let me know.Thanks.
 
Sounds like an air lock or possibly head gasket.

When hot and with the engine running can you feel a bubbling sensation through the hoses?

If the fan isn't kicking in I'd say it's most likely thermostat or air lock.

Shabash!
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Now partying with Yul Brynner
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When i'm driving i can sometimes hear a bubbling sound,it seems to be coming from behind the dash somewhere,there is a new water pump and thermostat on the car.How can i tell if the head gasket has gone?
 
look for a substance like mayo in the header tank or water on the dipstick.
pete.
 
Pete, thats only going to show if the HG has blown in a specific way, ie oilway to water.

If its blown cylinder to waterway then you won't get mayo.

Take the spark plugs out, if one is obviously cleaner than the rest its probably shot its HG.

Or you could just have a big airlock in the system but if you've been driving it you've probably ****ed the HG now too.
 
Sorry, should have said,its a 1.9 Turbo Diesel Brava,so no spark plugs.
 
Is it losing water? In other words are you having to top the water up all the time? If you do then head gasket is definitely shot and you should get it seen to straight away.

You say it has had a new water pump and thermostat? My questions wouyld therefore be: -

Which garage?
Did they fit them right?
Is there water on the road from your car?
Is the thermostat in the right way round?

Sounds like you have a bleed in the system somewhere that is causing a repeat air-lock which could be HG or any seal in the system.

Shabash!
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Now partying with Yul Brynner
http://www.geocities.com/ozrictentacles_web/
 
I had a 1.9TD Bravo.

It sorta did the same thing as yours, fan never kicked in and kept losing water, but just temporarily.

One day driving back from Southampton, going up the M6 I noticed that my temp guage was right up near the red section, so I pulled over just off the motorway and I noticed that the water in the expansion tank had completely evaporated.

Just thought it was kinda strange, but had no choice on how else to get home.
So I filled it back up at burger king with water from the toiltes, and guess what?.. It's never lost water since.

Prior to this it was losing a bit of water here and there, but nothing as major as this.


...5,000 miles later and still not a single problem.
 
Similar thing happened with my 1.7D Tipo. Loud bubbling sound, then almost identical symptoms to Ian. Found out it was my thermostat. Sadly, the engine had overheated too much and warped the cylinder head, so it was off the road for a few weeks whilst that was shaved level.



Rob



My New Objet Du Désir
 
The only time i have to top it up with water is when it boils over,i could drive from here to Edinburgh and back again and have no problems as i have done in the past.It might not boil over again for ages,i just wish i knew what was wrong with it.When it boils over and i put the heating on it blows out cold air,then when i top it up it blows hot air.
 
Everyone who has looked at it say that its not the head gasket.
 
If it blows hot air then it shouldn't be the thermostat but the fact that you are losing water is the big problem. Car should use a little but not as significant an amount as you have implied.

How much water is it losing?
 
I had a similar issue with my little cinq, she had been normally as ever then on a trip to plymouth the fan refused to cut in and boiled her dry, unfortunately that then lead onto other problems such as the head gasket and corroded block, meaning a whole new engine required. Have you tried checking the connection for the fan or possible the fan fuse! (black box right hand side engine bay if your car is the same as mine!!!! - instructions from hubby as wouldn't normally know how to locate things like that, would most probably remove it and put lipstick there like a normal girl!!!!)

When the cinq first played up no one could find a real reason for her overheating, but after driving shopping etc the car would be so hot you could of had a cup of tea out of her, it was only when the garage stripped the engine that they found a blown gasket, corroded block as well as head, I never realised water could do so much damage!

one good thing came out of it - i now have a bravo!!!!!
 
Head gaskets and air locks are so very similar in symptoms. Garages can do a very quick and cheap test to check for exhaust gases in the water and therefore elliminate head gasket. As you've had work done requiring the water to be drained then it's very likely to be an air lock if it was refilled impatiently as it often is at garages. It's got to be a VDERY slow refill. Sometimes the only way is to drain the whole coolant system down and refill exactly as per the Haynes manual. Even then it sometimes needs to be done a couple of times before success. Some cars are sods to get the air locks out.
 
Thanks Danny,and thanks to everyone else who answered,i think i'll put it into a garage on monday and see what they say.Cheers.
 
Could just be the systemn has not been bled properly, its quite hard to do.

Does the heater get hot?
 
Its ****ed then! Get it to a garage and get the cooling system pressure tested.
 
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