slightly P....ed off !
Discussion
Had an ear splitting run in wedge last night , running much better since new fuel pump , sorted AFM . Arrived back to find steam coming out of front . Damn. Overflow container for expansion tank pushing water/anti freeze out of top.Hell. Hope its not head gasket , runs too well, mabe heater matrix problem ? Any answers ?
My dad always says 'try the most simple things furst cos its usually one of them'! Too true as well!
Have you topped the fluid uprecently? The reason i ask is because the day i bought my wedge, i got 50 yards down the road from the guys house i boughtthe car from (bearing in mind i was about to tackle the cars FIRST journey in 4 years and i hadnt been able to test drive the car off the drive cos of SORN) and as i pull into the petrol station, seam out the front and water PI$$ING out the overflow!
'Oh Nips' i thought!
Anyhow, in a moment of panic i checked the two water caps and they are different, one is a sealer and one is a pressure release one! (the release should be on the expansion bottle) other wise when the car gets to temp to open the thermostat up it spits it all out!
Sounds the same so hope it helps! If so its a free fix!
Have you topped the fluid uprecently? The reason i ask is because the day i bought my wedge, i got 50 yards down the road from the guys house i boughtthe car from (bearing in mind i was about to tackle the cars FIRST journey in 4 years and i hadnt been able to test drive the car off the drive cos of SORN) and as i pull into the petrol station, seam out the front and water PI$$ING out the overflow!
'Oh Nips' i thought!
Anyhow, in a moment of panic i checked the two water caps and they are different, one is a sealer and one is a pressure release one! (the release should be on the expansion bottle) other wise when the car gets to temp to open the thermostat up it spits it all out!
Sounds the same so hope it helps! If so its a free fix!
God knows ! Think its been doing this for a while but getting worse , overflow bottle pushes coolant out of top on to manfolds which creates the steam making it look more exiting. Topped up system to rule out air lock - fluid put into filler at front not expansion tank while running , no difference . Me thinks a blockage .
You can have too much water in the expansion tank, it needs some air space to do its job. It should have a level marker thing inside which you can see through the top this should be about the water level. If I fill mine up to the top the first time it gets to temp it spits out some water down to the full mark which is about 1 inch below full to overflowing point. With the car cool have a look into the tank, how much water is left in there ??
Good Luck Mate
Good Luck Mate
If you have an air lock it is not simply a case of top up and run you must remove all the air,
Remove PRESSURE cap and smell it,if it smells of exhaust fumes or fuel then suspect head gasket,(Any garage should be able to do a chemical test for about £20)
If not then try when COLD,filling VERY SLOWLY into the highest point on the cooling system ensuring heater valve is open ie:hot,
I am not too familiar with wedges but usually there is a bleed valve somewhere on the cooling system maybe in the heater pipes or on a water rail,remove this before filling.
once coolant is running out of the bleed valve screw it back in and continue pouring VERY SLOWLY until level is reached,
run engine at idle until heat is evident in the heater and feel all the coolant hoses to check that they are all warm sometimes requires raising engine speed to get coolant circulating properly, unfortunately its not that simple/depending on experience.
hopefully you should relieve any air and you will see level drop, top up and put on the cap
I always like to see the fans go on and off a few times but half hour sitting idling should be enough to tell in any TVR.
Also you could have a leak,blocked rad/matrix,faulty,stat,faulty pump,faulty fans/switches,collapsed hose,faulty heater valve,a week pressure cap
The pressure cap is fitted to allow the coolant to exceed 100 degrees without boiling as pressurised water boils at a higher temp,it is possible that yours is fkd try a new one first.
good luck.
Remove PRESSURE cap and smell it,if it smells of exhaust fumes or fuel then suspect head gasket,(Any garage should be able to do a chemical test for about £20)
If not then try when COLD,filling VERY SLOWLY into the highest point on the cooling system ensuring heater valve is open ie:hot,
I am not too familiar with wedges but usually there is a bleed valve somewhere on the cooling system maybe in the heater pipes or on a water rail,remove this before filling.
once coolant is running out of the bleed valve screw it back in and continue pouring VERY SLOWLY until level is reached,
run engine at idle until heat is evident in the heater and feel all the coolant hoses to check that they are all warm sometimes requires raising engine speed to get coolant circulating properly, unfortunately its not that simple/depending on experience.
hopefully you should relieve any air and you will see level drop, top up and put on the cap
I always like to see the fans go on and off a few times but half hour sitting idling should be enough to tell in any TVR.
Also you could have a leak,blocked rad/matrix,faulty,stat,faulty pump,faulty fans/switches,collapsed hose,faulty heater valve,a week pressure cap
The pressure cap is fitted to allow the coolant to exceed 100 degrees without boiling as pressurised water boils at a higher temp,it is possible that yours is fkd try a new one first.
good luck.
Thanks all for your advice. It may hopefully be as Badred said - too much in expansion tank - I took about a litre out then ran her hot for 30 mins with fans going on etc and she didn't spit out any coolant ! Cold level is now up to white marker inside exp. tank .Is that the right level ? Why do wedges have that little overflow tank underneath , never seen one anywhere else ? Won't be totally trusting of fix until she's had a good run . Bloody lawns to mow again takes priority . damn.
When the system is hot/pressurised and starts to cool/depressurise it will suck the excess coolant from the overflow bottle back into the system.
Without this the system will find its level and run with the quantity (mass) of coolant that expands to fill the volume of the system on the hottest running day, the rest of the time it will be running low i.e. the mass of coolant at a lower temperature/pressure does not expand to fill the volume of the entire system.
That's the theory, as I understand it anyway! What I don't understand is that if that is the case then the header tank should always be full to the brim and the expansion bottle copes with the variations in temp/pressure, but in real life the header tank is always part full. I can only assume that the method of sucking coolant back into the system is not perfect.
Without this the system will find its level and run with the quantity (mass) of coolant that expands to fill the volume of the system on the hottest running day, the rest of the time it will be running low i.e. the mass of coolant at a lower temperature/pressure does not expand to fill the volume of the entire system.
That's the theory, as I understand it anyway! What I don't understand is that if that is the case then the header tank should always be full to the brim and the expansion bottle copes with the variations in temp/pressure, but in real life the header tank is always part full. I can only assume that the method of sucking coolant back into the system is not perfect.
Graham you are spot on ! fairly sure it was too much coolant , sounds daft but thats wedges !By the way glad you have another wedge even though its not a red 390. Badred , wish I had some sheep for the blasted lawn at the moment have the welsh any spare ? Leorest , think the theory is correct but its the fine tuning in practice . looking forward to wedgefest to see people I only read on the site , not far away now !
, AND the 280, but...oh well, nevermind. 
Gassing Station | Wedges | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff