Bloody overheating - Help

T

Tart

Guest
Hi guys and gals,

Driving my R today, get onto the motorway and as picking up speed my oil temp starts to climb. It normally won't go above 80 degrees so u can imagine my shock at it hitting 110 in this weather!!!!! at the same time, my engine temp started to climb and I had a serious lack of power!!! Stopped for 10 minutes, and then drove off again. Engine temp reported fine, power was fine and she took off although the oil temp was higher than normal......

Got home (only 5 mins away) with engine temp still reading normal, oil hot, but with no power problems, she was pullin like a mad one, if you didn't no the oil temp shouldn't b that high u wouldn't have noticed any prob. Anyway, I get home to find that although engine temp guage reads normal the coolant is bubbling away and steam is coming from the reservoir although no coolant is overflowing. Only guage reading wierd is oil temp. I check coolant levels, and oil levels which are all fine even after cooling down.......

Any ideas???? Im thinking either coolant block / airlock, oil cooler failure, or worse case head......!!! although I wouldn't expect to have full power after leaving it to cool for a bit if it was the head........ im stumped..... Gonna try to drain, flush and replace coolant tomoz..... any other ideas??? HELP!!!!

Matt
 
T

Tart

Guest
right, after reading through some other posts on here i stumbled on one about engine coolant levels in the rad being low even when the reservoir says ok. I checked and managed to get 1 litre of coolant and 1.5 litres of water in the rad!!!! gotta be something wrong there as the bottle level was ok. I think the reservoir pipe is blocked...... Gonna take it out tomoz and see if that fixes it!!!! I certainly hope so!!!!! let you all know......
 
you can pretty much throw that resevoir away.
It does nothing and you need to always check levels in the rad.
The tank is an expansion tank and the cap on the rad is sprung, so when pressure in the water syatem rises it opens up the spring in the cap and releases. But the spring is one way and therefore fluid cannot get from the resevoir back into the rad!
If your losin water and over heating its a good idea to change the rad cap (halfords) as these perish and only cost 3 quid.
 

Shaun

New Member
R called Jay said:
you can pretty much throw that resevoir away.
It does nothing and you need to always check levels in the rad.
The tank is an expansion tank and the cap on the rad is sprung, so when pressure in the water syatem rises it opens up the spring in the cap and releases. But the spring is one way and therefore fluid cannot get from the resevoir back into the rad!
:wink: Mine has sucked fluid from the expansion tank back into the rad many times after re-filling the system :wink: I believe it works(or is supposed to)on a vacum,so that when the fluid cools in the rad and shrinks, it creates a vacum and pulls fluid from the expansion tank :wink:
 

geetee

Active Member
What would be the point of having an expansion system that only works one way :shock:

Of course the coolant returns from the expansion tank as the motor cools.

:roll:

Cheers
GeeTee 8)
 
T

Tart

Guest
thanx for all the advice guys, tomorrow is new rad cap and bleed the cooling system day...... if that fixes this little problem, that will make me happy for christmas :D
 

LOU ROB

Member
Check the obvious, incase you've over looked :wink:
check all your hose connections ,e.g slack jubeelies. Check for cracks on your hoses :wink:
I had the same problem. It turned out to be a crack on the underside of the bottom rad hose, lost water over time. The oil temp got a little to high for my liking and the rad fan was going like hell.
It turned out to be , I'd lost so much coolant over time that the fan switch couldn't operate :oops:

Just a sugestion through experience :wink:
 
T

Tart

Guest
UPDATE

OK, Got a new rad cap and bled the system. Sat the car for 40 mins and no overheating. Oil gets hotter than it used to but still no more than 100 degrees. Drove it, fine. Drove it again, engine temp rose to 3/4 but then went down again...... now fine..... I think it may be just settling in as the coolant level stays static now all of time....... gonna take it for a proper drive in a bit..... u lot rekon its ok now????
 
geetee said:
What would be the point of having an expansion system that only works one way :shock:

Of course the coolant returns from the expansion tank as the motor cools.
If you look at your rad cap it is seal by a spring that only opens when pressure in the rad forces it open, and the hole to the expansion tank is above this level so how can water possibly go back into the rad from the expansion tank :?:

The point of havin it there is prob to stop water leakin onto the engine of floor when pressure rises in the coolin system i'd imagine.

I had same prob with my car and was sorted after new cap.
 
A

abelai

Guest
Last car I had that did this (Celica ST162) was losing water over long drives 100 miles or so just thought it was sludge in the coolent system carried on like this for a year not really bothering me. Eventually found out when it got worse and I took the head off head gasket was dead and at higher revs was forcing the charge into the coolent system pissing out the water. Other signs were small amount of white smoke from the exhaust (steam) and near the end rust on the plugs but this wasn't until it was really f**ked. I would get a pressure tester for your coolent system and don't listern to the old 'mayo, oil mixing with water thing' it's more common just to get steam from the exhaust and pressuring of the coolent system.

If it is just the water pump engine will get to running temperature very quickly if the sensor is on the head.
 

Dooie Pop Pop

New Member
R called Jay said:
geetee said:
What would be the point of having an expansion system that only works one way :shock:

Of course the coolant returns from the expansion tank as the motor cools.
If you look at your rad cap it is seal by a spring that only opens when pressure in the rad forces it open, and the hole to the expansion tank is above this level so how can water possibly go back into the rad from the expansion tank :?:

The point of havin it there is prob to stop water leakin onto the engine of floor when pressure rises in the coolin system i'd imagine.

I had same prob with my car and was sorted after new cap.
i must be going mental then because mine sucks back too :? :wink: :lol: dont get much expansion in this weather unless i abuse the car lots. but in the summer it happens most of the time.

if you' ve a standard rad cap like mine you should get some movement of water back and forwards. IF you' ve an uprated one like the apexi' s it' ll take a lot more pressure to open the spring so much less movement.

i did have an uprated rad cap but took it off because i really didnt like the idea of my oe block hoses being put under unnessasary pressure. pointless really :roll:
fitting an oil cooler will take some of the strain out of the water cooling system too :wink:


stu
 

Dooie Pop Pop

New Member
abelai said:
Last car I had that did this (Celica ST162) was losing water over long drives 100 miles or so just thought it was sludge in the coolent system carried on like this for a year not really bothering me. Eventually found out when it got worse and I took the head off head gasket was dead and at higher revs was forcing the charge into the coolent system pissing out the water. Other signs were small amount of white smoke from the exhaust (steam) and near the end rust on the plugs but this wasn't until it was really f**ked. I would get a pressure tester for your coolent system and don't listern to the old 'mayo, oil mixing with water thing' it's more common just to get steam from the exhaust and pressuring of the coolent system.
exactly the same thing happened to my mates cossie, the actual hg leak was tiny :shock:
 
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