Another one overheating.

Went out earlier and rescued me nayboor, who's got a 3.9EFI V8 Disco rinnin on gas.
It had got hot and dumped it's coolant.
No sign of any leaks (other than from the expansion tank overflow), top hose not hard, no mayo under oil filler, no water from exhorst.

Put 5 litres of water in it and temp gauge back to normal. Drove 1/2 a mile and back up to just below the red.
Rad is new-ish and clean on the outside.

Whadder yer reckon? Water pump?

does it have aircon? could be that the fans havnt kicked in?????

as you know ive had the overheat/overpressure so i'm familiar with it. aside from the serious and disasterous liners and gasket. i would check flow of coolant, you could take top hose off and spin engine see if theres any movement, weak or strong???

I was that neyboor !!
It does have aircon, I was reading the thred on gurgling in the dash area. Is it connected do u think?

thats the gurgling in the heater matrix scenario???

i would imagine any gurgling says its got air in there???

stuvie said:

I was that neyboor !!
It does have aircon, I was reading the thred on gurgling in the dash area. Is it connected do u think?

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you is treweys neighbour,

Spent the day faffing with the radiator and flushing out the system as best I could. There ws no milky water anywhere etc etc or any of the other signs of a head gasket. Eventually found water p**ing out of what I think is where the timing chain cover is, behind the water pump. If that makes sense. Anyone got any ideas what horrors await when start taking it apart? It only seem to do this when it was running up to temp for a while

ear Stu - this might be useful

http://www.bearmach.com/partscatalogues/Disco_fastparts_A4_lo.pdf

stuvie said:

Spent the day faffing with the radiator and flushing out the system as best I could. There ws no milky water anywhere etc etc or any of the other signs of a head gasket. Eventually found water p**ing out of what I think is where the timing chain cover is, behind the water pump. If that makes sense. Anyone got any ideas what horrors await when start taking it apart? It only seem to do this when it was running up to temp for a while

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Sounds about right. I had the same thing happen last year. You will need to replace the timing cover gasket and while you are at it, it would be worth replacing the timing chain. It is a bit of a pain but not really difficult, just take your time. Watch out for a couple of the bolts on the timing cover there is one that is hard to see near the oil pump, also watch out for corroded bolts and take great care when re-assembling, it is very easy to pull a thread.

ear Kev,
I know nowt about V8's but I'm trying to help / advise Stu.
What is it that's actually gone for it to be ****ing water out from behind the timing case?

bloke from rpi engineering reckoned it was from inside the pump leaking from the gasket or flange
cheers for the advice on doing it.

Best get the pump and gaskets ordered then Stu!

Will do, is it worth doing the thermo and sender etc as well. I am getting a new cap for the header tank. Am tempted to buy new sprockets for the chain as well,what do you reckon? Seems a shame if I am doing all this not too.
Chris Crane from RPI e mailed last night after I filled in an on line enquiry on their site. Hows that for dedication !!

Thermostat yes, sender no (they either work or they don't and yours is OK).
Are you planning on replacing the timing chain? I wouldn't have thought that was necessary, unless you plan keeping it for another 10 yrs - I think tin worm might intervene in the meantime.

just a thought, as i don't know what it is like I thought i would get one any way, The cars done over 100,000 don't know what state its in , stretched etc.

Treworgey 90 said:

ear Kev,
I know nowt about V8's but I'm trying to help / advise Stu.
What is it that's actually gone for it to be ****ing water out from behind the timing case?

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Trewy, bin aways workin 'n' stuff so just read this.

The timing cover has water ways in it so part of the gasket has to stop coolant leaking out as well as oil. I had a timing cover gasket let go and the water poured out of it.

It might also be the water pump gasket but that is normally easy to see, however, the water pump is effectively part of the timing cover, the pump bolts on to the front of the timing cover with its' own separate gasket.

Hope that clears it it up a bit.

int the 2.5 petrol like that anorl - seem to remember I had to change both on my S3?

Sounds like it's the timing cover gasket then.
Fook, that's a much bigger job than just the water pump.

Treworgey 90 said:

Sounds like it's the timing cover gasket then.
Fook, that's a much bigger job than just the water pump.

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I'm afraid so but if it is planned you can do a number of other things at the same time. Change timing chain, overhaul oil pump, overhaul water pump, check/replace belts, check belt tensioners, clean radiator.

If you really wanted to go for it, pop heads off, check camshaft and followers - it is best to take it on all at once, I have found to my cost it is better to get stuck in because if a head gasket change shows wear in the camshaft and/or followers, you need to at least take off the rocker covers and valley gasket to change camshaft and rockers as well as having to remove the timing cover, if you see what I mean?

However, if it is just going to be a timing cover gasket change, it isn't too difficult and can be easily done in less than a day. Hope that helps you out.

Nearly forgot, the dizzy needs to come out to change timing cover gasket so careful highlighting of timing marks and marking position of dizzy is required. Also, the bottom pulley has to come off and that can be a real pain, huge torque required when doing up that crank pulley. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

stuvie said:

just a thought, as i don't know what it is like I thought i would get one any way, The cars done over 100,000 don't know what state its in , stretched etc.

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If it is original, at 100k the timing chain is almost certainly stretched.