Who needs coolant anyway?

[Bonce]

Driving to work this morning I had the alarming situation of a smoke filled cabin. Temperature check was 98 and rising.
I pulled over straight away into the layby I was fortunately passing and switched off at 102 degrees.

I'm paranoid about engine temperature so I know I checked it half a mile before, pulling off the dual carriageway and it was a normal 89 so it can't have been running hot for long. I also check the coolant level every time I open the boot, and I know it was at normal level when I stowed the roof this morning.

The header tank was empty. DavidD came to the rescue with some jugs of water from the office, we filled up and I drove the last half mile to work. No more water appeared to be lost, in fact everything appears to be normal. Oil on cap and dipstick is clean, coolant seems normal.

There's evidence of coolant being sprayed onto the bulkhead on the offside side of the car but the coolant hoses seem intact and in place.

Do you think I'd be pushing my luck to drive it any more or should get the AA to trailer it to Sinclaires?

[alunr]

I'd get it trailered - sounds like some kind of break in the hose at a certain heat/temperature.

Good Luck mate.

[Bonce]

Sinclaires reckon it's just a damaged hose - Wayne knew exactly where the leak was before I told him somehow!
Anyway, AA have been called so now I guess I have a couple of hours of wrangling with them to get a low loader out to take it to London.

[Bonce]

As predicted, the AA didn't send a low loader but the bloke they sent did a pressure test and showed me a fine spray of water coming from the head and hitting the bulkhead. Oh dear.

[Felix7]

Sorry to hear that Bonce, any news since?

[Bonce]

Yep, my car has just arrived at Sinclaires and they have confirmed that it is the head gasket.

[alunr]

Bad luck mate.

Any idea how much to repair/replace?

I sympathise with you here because my Car has its service tommorow and I think a new rack is going to be the minimum requirement!

[Felix7]

Have the bolts stretched? or has the gasket just given up the ghost? either way sorry its happened.

[456mgt]

Bugger. Sorry to hear that Bonce. Hope it works out OK for you.

Kev

[Bonce]

Not sure yet on either cause of failure, extent of damage or cost. I'll keep you posted.

Luckily, I won the lottery last week. Which was nice.

[DanH]

Have you got a tuned engine Bonce? If not might be worth giving Dave Andrew a call and getting it rebuild at 160 bhp? Might not even cost any more.

Every cloud has a silver lining etc.

[Bonce]

Nah, it's VVC, can't tune it.

[B19GRR]

Actually Dave Andrews does a couple of kits for the VVC
www.members.aol.com/DVAPower/#vvc170kit
www.members.aol.com/DVAPower/#vvc190kit

I'll definitely be giving him some work later in the year although I'm stuck with the 155bhp kit for the S2, still it'll make a difference

[Felix7]

B19GRR said: Actually Dave Andrews does a couple of kits for the VVC
www.members.aol.com/DVAPower/#vvc170kit
www.members.aol.com/DVAPower/#vvc190kit

I'll definitely be giving him some work later in the year although I'm stuck with the 155bhp kit for the S2, still it'll make a difference

Ironically I was talking to the man himself on Friday about the very same kits, very good value in terms of bangs for bucks. Bonce if is going to be an expensive repair you could always do what I did and go for the upgrade at the same time. Dave's a good bloke, he also has a cracking engine replacement lined up, not sure if its public knowledge yet, the kit is due out soon. (well its at least semi public now!!!)

[Izza]

Sorry to hear this Bonce.
Hope its not a major dent in the financies.
So how much u win in the lottery and u go a spare million or 2?


>> Edited by Izza on Friday 14th March 20:04

[Bonce]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

I've just got off the phone with Sinclaires. The total bill is going to be nudging the £1000 barrier but that is because they are also replacing my front wheel and tyre, cambelt (it's four years old so worth doing while it's accessible) and VVC timing belt thingy. They will also do the full monty job on the head (skim and pressure test) and replace the stretch bolts.

I'm looking at over 12 hours labour and won't get the car back for over a week.

[alunr]

Ouch! Bad luck mate.

Any ideas why it happened? (thinking preventative on mine you see )

[Bonce]

No cause is known yet, but here is a very plausible explaination from SELOC (www.seloc.org) member IanC:

Hello fellow HGF chums

Fit a remote stat and find HG heaven!!!!!

At the risk of repeating a well known story, a major cause of HGF, assuming the thing is fitted properly and the liner / deck heights are equal is heat cycling.

The K series is designed to fit into the front of a Rover where it will be continuously cooled by passing air. The distance between the radiator and the engine is short and the coolant tends to get to an even temperature throughout the engine and rad very quickly

The Liz however not only has the engine in the back and out of the airflow but it also has a floor pan, just in case any cooling flow of air should get through

The result is the K in a Liz and an F for that matter heats up quickly and the stat opens. The problem is that because the rad is miles away there is no real direct connection you have icy cold water in the rad (that is in the airflow and is a very efficient heat exchange unit) that is release through the stat straight onto an aluminium engine so it goes from say 100 degrees to say 3 degrees in no time at all.

Part of the story is the positioning of the stat. Being so close to the engine it effectively divides the cooling systems into a low capacity primary system and a high capacity secondary system. So once the cold water hits the stat closes till the engine heats up again, which because of the low capacity in the primary system doesn't take long at all, stat opens and the next douche of cold water arrived, aluminium contracts and it all happens again. You get a constant cycle of hot and cold , expand and contract. If you have a modified engine then its even more heat to get rid off and often high pressures as well and something has to give, if you are lucky the head gasket, if not a liner or a piston

The answer is to fit a remote stat that increases the capacity of the primary system which increases the time to warm up and then allows the cold water once teh stat opens to be mixed with the hot coolant in the primary system so the engine doesn't get frequent cold showers

QED do a kit or Scuffam's site has DIY instructions, I expect Geary has one as well, Lakeside ar Sincalires will know all about this stuff and will no doubt be happy to relieve your wallet in exchange for relief from HGF.

This isn't the only cause of HGF but sure as hell doesn’t help

BTW make sure you fit the latest aluminium locating lugs and best use an uprated HG from Mike Satur or similar

HTH

Ian

Which explains why the Elise and MGF are so prone to HGF.

[CVP]

Bonce said: No cause is known yet, but here is a very plausible explaination from SELOC (www.seloc.org) member IanC:
.

Just out of interest, has anyone had this done by someone like Sinclaires and how much did it cost?

Chris

[Bonce]

Err yes, mine is being done at Sinclaires and prices are outlined in this thread.