water levels?

[nordin450]

Hi,
Got the bible on the other side of town and couldn't find this on search.. and the question is really complicated (not), so here we go...

For the water system (blue cap),.. how much water should be in there? Should it be full, half full or 3/4?
I suppose normal water with some alcohol should be what I use to top it up with? considering it's pretty cold at the mo.

[llanelli-rob]

Inch or so from top under blue cap.

[FunkyGibbon]

mine is happiest with the water level at the seam (about half way up) on the expansion tank. Anymore and it spits it out.

FG

[mongoose]

nordin450 said:

I suppose normal water with some alcohol should be what I use to top it up with? considering it's pretty cold at the mo.

50/50 water(soft or de-ionised) and quality antifreeze is all your system should contain,or be topped up with.I seem to remember my chim's level settling around the seam.On my griff it's about an inch from the bottom.I would just get used to wherever its happiest,and always check very regularly.

[greenv8s]

Use a water/antifreeze mix(tap water will do fine unless you are in a particularly hard water area). The antifreeze will tell you what concentration you need for different times of the year. Keep it at the 'cold winter' concentration all year round to ensure your alloy engine gets full corrosion protection. There are different cooling system layouts but in all cases there should be one tank with around three quarters of a liter of air in it. Some caps seal better/worse than others so the operating pressure can vary, this will mean you may need more, or less, air in the system. If you don't have enough air volume, it will normally spit some water out and find its own balance.

[hood]

I always keep mine at the seam and generally stays there aswell.
Glyn.

[richb]

hood said:

I always keep mine at the seam and generally stays there aswell. Glyn.

ditto...

[robstvr]

DO NOT fill it to an inch below the cap, as someone suggested!!!!!!!!

As the engine, and so cooling system heats up, the coolant expands, and this tank with the blue cap is where it expands into. If you fill this up, then where does it expand too? It blasts out of the cap. This, although not so bad, is not so good. Never fill past the seam on the tank, and then only when the engine is cold. Never open any of the caps while the engine is hot.

Just my tuppence!

[Bob the Planner]

On a pre-surpentine car the recommendation is 1" below the inlet pipe (not the cap). I don't remember a seam on the swirl pot for a pre-serp (vertical seam).

[bigdods]

Chim 450 Serp here - no matter where I fill it to , it just finds its way back to about an inch from the bottom - My understanding from other threads is that they all vary, fill it halfway up (to the seam) then let it find its own level.

[Red V8]

On the seam for my baby too...

[nordin450]

Thanks for the advice, think most of you agree that the best level is at the seam, will go for that then !!

Now to the reason why I wanted to check this.. Since I changed spark leads the temp has started to go above 90 when driving in heavy traffic. The fan kicks in and keeps the temp stable for a while but the temp has reached 98/99c
Not above 100c yet, touch wood (there's no touch wood smiley??)

Before I changed to the new spark leads the engine didn't go over 92c.

Any ideas of what's happening? Coolant levels are now OK and the problem remain. I suspect that I will have serious problems in a few months when the air is warmer and I'm already fighting to keep the temp below 100c....

>> Edited by nordin450 on Saturday 4th February 20:30

[Big Al.]

Red V8 said:

On the seam for my baby too...

Same as mine when I had it.

[tpo]

You havn't by any chance knocked the vacuum pipe off between the plenum and distributor? Or maybe the dizzy is loose and got moved. The resultant timing error would not help the temperature at all.

Cheers

[tahiti450]

bigdods said:

Chim 450 Serp here - no matter where I fill it to , it just finds its way back to about an inch from the bottom - My understanding from other threads is that they all vary, fill it halfway up (to the seam) then let it find its own level.

Snap.