Steam power
Steam power
Author
Discussion

Kwacker

Original Poster:

641 posts

313 months

Monday 13th October 2014
quotequote all
Steam coming out of the bonnet is a good thing right?

zed4

7,248 posts

251 months

Monday 13th October 2014
quotequote all
Depends where it's coming from! I often get steam when its raining as water runs through the bonnet vents and onto the manifolds.

kennybgr8

379 posts

171 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
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Haha not as far as I was concerned see my post lol,,,

ianwayne

8,525 posts

297 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
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Got a bit myself this morning, but it was from puddle water hitting the exhaust manifolds..... I think.

Don't usually like to use the TVR in heavy rain, but a morning trip to the dentist was necessary due to a broken filling. frown

Kwacker

Original Poster:

641 posts

313 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
I wasn't going through a puddle. Ignition light came on a couple hundred yards from the garage, lights dimmed to nothing, car was mis-firing, switched off the ignition and rolled up to the garage. Checked under the bonnet and there was a strange hissing coming from under the plenum chamber.

Not good I tell you! Not Good!

There are demons about trying to take money from my wallet I tell you!!!!!!

Kwacker

swallet

453 posts

172 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
Not just the blanking plug coming off the hot water feed to the plenum? Happened to me.
Not used in TVRs hence blanked off by a length of hose and a bolt. Would cause water to run into valley area.

Never know - would be easy fix.
Otherwise thermostat housing or heater hoses could cause water in this area.

Rain water also runs down onto plenum.

Kwacker

Original Poster:

641 posts

313 months

Tuesday 10th February 2015
quotequote all
I finally decided to go and have a look at how bad the news was going to be.

Well apart from a little bit of mould and having to change the battery it started straight up. So looking under the hood I started thinking isn't there more things supposed to be going round? So quickly switch off the engine!

Yep, No fan belt. Must have left it on the motorway or high street.

It explains why the warning light came on, why the lights started flickering, the rough running and the overheating and steam.

Big question though. Did it do any big damage?

Kwacker

Chuffmeister

3,597 posts

166 months

Tuesday 10th February 2015
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Hard to tell. How long were you driving with it missing? The serpentine aux belt drives the water pump, alternator and PAS pump off of the crank pulley. If it had been missing a while, then cooler water from the rad and hot water from the block woulnd't have circulated. Did the car get hot and overheat? Also, check for impact damage from the snapped belt.

Edited by Chuffmeister on Tuesday 10th February 11:35

Sardonicus

19,442 posts

250 months

Tuesday 10th February 2015
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Did you not see the charge light illuminate? confused

ChimpOnGas

9,637 posts

208 months

Tuesday 10th February 2015
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Don't forget you still have good old thermosyphon on your side.

Even without the aid of a water pump hot water rises drawing the cool from below, which then passes through the radiator where it cools and falls causing the continuous circulation process known as thermosyphon.

Many pre-war cars didn't even have a water pump relying instead exclusively on thermosyphon, but of course these were typically cast iron engines that are infinitely less affected by thermal expansion than aluminum.

Please be sure to understand I am not suggesting you dont need a water pump on a Rover V8 or any other modern engine for that matter, they all have them and for very good reason.

All I'm saying is there would have still been an element of circulation occurring even without the water pump turning. Actually the term pump is rather misleading because all a water pump on a car actually does is assist the natural effects of thermosyphon. A typical belt driven automotive water pump is just a paddle, it doesn't actually create any real pressure like a direct displacement pump would.

You may be lucky, indeed I hope you are.

Good luck with it, Dave. thumbup

Sardonicus

19,442 posts

250 months

Tuesday 10th February 2015
quotequote all
Dave you wont achieve any kind of thermo-sython action on the RV8 frown coolant will boil way before any worth while movements even slight ones grumpy and may I also warn you that the cylinder heads are the hottest part of the engine that needs water cooling and hence why heads get it in the neck 1st be it blown HG or worse scratchchin