water water everywhere.

[jimburr]

After a valley gasket change when a little leak at the back turned nasty, could not keep the coolant in, replaced the hotspot as the steel pipes looked past there best. new old one leaked so deleted hot spot. next checked all the hoses that had been taken of an re-fitted, all seemed ok. still a little puddle of coolant at the back of the valley gasket after a run. Right got a rad pressure tester at work, take that home. that's it disturbed the swan neck cap. sorted, replaced for a blanking cap( .07 pressure cap before with no issues)Return home a happy boy, no puddle. next day go out to look see and oh bks, little puddle. half turn on a heater hose and its sorted I think...... PS just spilled a half of amber coolant on the wireless keyboard in the mancave. and broke the flush on the outside bog.http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/imgs/3.gif

[The Hatter]

I used to get that little puddle; turned out that the metal heater pipes running under the intake manifold were corroded and porous. I only saw them leaking when I'd started the engine and stopped it before it got hot; the leak was so slight that the water just evaporated off when the engine was hot. I cut them out and replaced them with silicon hose.

[Jack Valiant]

I did the same with my old 400 interestingly and on the Serp engine in the Gredge they are not used and the pipes run round the engine - lesson learnt??!!

[adam quantrill]

Yes you can get pinpricks in these heater pipes.

Also what sort of valley gasket did you use? I find the new composite ones are pretty good - I even re-used mine with a smear of extra blue sealant and that didn't leak.

[jimburr]

Went for the old school tin gasket. Read some horror stories on one of the Landy forums regarding composite gaskets, probably a load of old twodel. little bit of a learning curve so took my time and did a bit of polishing in the process, blue Hylomar is your friend. No comment on the hotspot deletion?

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

I've use the composite ones on quite a few engines inc my race ones, and not had a problem, some ppl say you can re-use them but I never do.