Right had enough of this now, changed head gasket and its still ****ed

Sorry to start a new thread but i'm so ****ed off, i've spent the last few days changing my head gaskets. Finished this morning fired it up and still have all the symptoms i had before.

When first started its fine until after about 5 mins it starts bubbling out of expansion tank when cap is off trying to bleed system. I've flushed the radiator and heater matrix both are fine/clean.

Thermostat was tested out of the car and opened correctly using boiling water.

Heres the problem the bottom of the rad is stone cold and the bottom pipe to thermostat is cold too. The top pipe of the thermostat and the actual thermostat are warm/hottish.

The pipe going to the matrix is red hot but the pipe returning is cold.

I went for a drive earlier got 2 miles up the road and the heater was blowing cold, it suddenly went red hot and a millisecond later the temp guage started to shoot up, i switched off instantly so it didn't actually get into the red.

Now after telling my neigbour that the effing car was fubar and my mrs is about to drop and shes in tears he said calm down lets look at the facts. I started it and we looked at exhausts there was no steam at all. Then we looked at engine and i told him the bottom of rad was cold and bottom pipe to thermo was cold. Then it clicked ......could this possibly be either the waterpump failed or the thermostat failed???

Correct me if i'm wrong but as the water in the block heats up it will expand forcing it into the top of rad then down bleed pipe to exp tank. then as it gets really hot it starts boiling over. This would explain why the heater matrix pipe is hot as it comes out of the engine but its not being pushed through the heater matrix so the return is cold.

I know i've given an answer to this question but i'm hoping the many experienced people on here could help me out as i really need the car drivable.

Cheers guys

Maybe the water pump impellor has come off or slipping.

Steve

not sure but at about £33 for a water pump i would change it anyway. the thermostat may be ok but i would change it for peace of mind.

could it possibly be airlocked in the system which is stopping the water circulating, seem to be prone to it once they have been drained...

i've gone the right way about it. got a garage to sort the headgaskets. may cost but it's better than a divorce when i start losing it at every problem that crops up

Yeah my mrs has been awesome to be honest shes been sat in the car for about 3 hours watching the temp guage just incase it goes up. I've tried every possible way i know of bleeding it, it seems like there is an airlock but i just can't shift it.

someone on here described how to do it using a bottle or raising the header tank to help expel the hair... can't quite remember now but if you search for it ya should find it. someone said you should disconnect the topmost hose to the header tank and blow down it to get rid of any coolant and it should allow the air a clear passage out. let us know how ya get on m8

Pop it up on ramps at the front, that always works for me

javars said:

Pop it up on ramps at the front, that always works for me

Click to expand...

makes sense, makes the rad al ot higher than the block.. been working on cars for years and never even thought of that, top tip

javars said:

Pop it up on ramps at the front, that always works for me

Click to expand...

Tried that trick the other day and it worked for me too

Good advice javars

sorry guys should have said i've tried doing it up on ramps and i've also blown through the top hose of the rad. Thanks for suggestions keep them coming.....i think its the water pump though

got mine off island 4x4. cheap and delivered next day, c'ept i was out and the nearest interlink depot is in the middle of manchester .
got a thermostat off them as well and got a deal on the postage. only fair as i think i have bought shares in em over the last month

I had problems with an airlock, what I did was to starty the car, let it run for 1-2 minutes, stop it and then open the expantion tank. When I did this, lots of air came out. Repeat the procedure 3-4 times and it should be empty of air. If neacessary, refill water/coolant between each round.

Another issue is that the pressure in the cooling sustems seems to go very high if the waterlevel is too high. Mine blew off a hose when it got hot because of this.

what worked for me was to remove the top hose from the rad and bend up wards fill the engine thru this hose slowly until it overflows the pipe and the rad quickly put pipe back on remove expansion cap and run at fast idle topping up as nessesary i also ran mine with out the fan so i could feel for cool spots on the rad as it ran up to temp

the secret to bleeding the system is to remove the small pipe that goes from the top of the rad to the expansion bottle and blow it through. If there is any water in it it will not bleed. Keep a finger over the small hole just inside the expansion bottle when you top up.

i reckon we could all do with someone designing a 't' to put in the top hose with a removeable plug/screwcap, i'd buy one!!!

i'll have a look and see if i can build owt, if i can i'll post pics and instructions (it'll be at w/end tho)

it seems strange tho Hackett that the water isnt flowing i would certaily check water pump for correct function as this could have been the original problem too!!!

gavbriggs said:

i reckon we could all do with someone designing a 't' to put in the top hose with a removeable plug/screwcap, i'd buy one!!!

i'll have a look and see if i can build owt, if i can i'll post pics and instructions (it'll be at w/end tho)

it seems strange tho Hackett that the water isnt flowing i would certaily check water pump for correct function as this could have been the original problem too!!!

Click to expand...

I've thought of exactly the same thing if you made a t piece with a bleed screw in it. Great minds think alike.

Right i'm off out to check the water pump now, i've tried bleeding again but still doesn't seem to be circulating.

a tee piece is easy to make, all you need is to buy 6 components from your local plumb centre . i think the size is 1/2" if so :
1, 1 off 1/2" female brass tee
2, 2 off 1/2" male bspt to 1/2" pipe tail
3, 1 off 1/2" male bspt blank
4, 2 off suitable jubilee clips
fit the 2 off male to pipe tails into the 2 straight parts of the tee using ptfe tape,
fit the male blank into the remaining upward port of the tee.
cut hose and fit using the 2 jubilee clips.

well i'm an ex plumber/gas fitter (hence the willingness to jump in both feet first)

what pressure does the coolant system usually run to?
i might be able to get a auto bleed system here!!!

might be a bit ott but would certainly let us get a cuppa whilst car bleeds itself!!

that is a piece of **** to build, now the highest pipes in mine is probably the gas water flow and return, i think i need to use inch/22mm fittings for this to work effectively!

i would have thought that the running pressure would be just below the value of the pressure cap?

will have to look at that, see how i get on!!!

Right update for you, i changed the waterpump and thermostat today. Started it up and still over heats, i had the front in the air with the cap off for an hour it just bubbled away. but still bottom of rad stone cold. I put the expansion tank cap on and took the bleed pipe off the rad and steam ****ed out of the rad. Left it like this for an hour and a half and steam was just plooming out of the top of the rad but the water level didn't drop once.

The car got mega hot but still no hot air through vents in the car and the bottom of the rad stayed stone cold all the time. At one point i started to back the expansion tank cap off and the bloody thing blew off scalding my whole arm so im led here covered in bloody savlon nursing my wounds.

I've kind off given up now. It points towards the rad being blocked but ive flushed it for hours with the hose and no blockage seems to be there. Tomorrow im going to bypass the heater matrix tomorrow with a single piece of pipe so that will rule out a blockage there.

Any way thats the update from a very depressed, fed up, skint and burnt Hackett