chim spat out the dummy
Discussion
Last night my chim decided to spit out all of it's coolant in a rather spectacular fashion - steam everwhere 
I was driving along in town traffic for 20 minutes and everything was fine; temp OK, fans kicking in when they should, oil pressure fine. Then all of a sudden - in the space of 20 yards, I noticeed the oil pressure has dropped a lot and a slight hot smell, and then Mt Vesuvius erupted and spat all of the coolant out.
Called AA (that'll be 2 hrs Sir)
When engine cooled a bit I checked the expansion tank - cold and empty. Took the radiator bleed screw out to see if any water in there and yep full. Tried to take the swirl tank screw out - to tight, so took the big pipe off, all bone dry.
So, to me at least, this looks like a theromstat problem - not cutting in a routing water to the rad? Or could it be worse - water pump?
Anyhow, the car is at Offords now (thanks Mr Manchett blokey) so I guess I find out soon.
FG
I was driving along in town traffic for 20 minutes and everything was fine; temp OK, fans kicking in when they should, oil pressure fine. Then all of a sudden - in the space of 20 yards, I noticeed the oil pressure has dropped a lot and a slight hot smell, and then Mt Vesuvius erupted and spat all of the coolant out.
Called AA (that'll be 2 hrs Sir
) When engine cooled a bit I checked the expansion tank - cold and empty. Took the radiator bleed screw out to see if any water in there and yep full. Tried to take the swirl tank screw out - to tight, so took the big pipe off, all bone dry.
So, to me at least, this looks like a theromstat problem - not cutting in a routing water to the rad? Or could it be worse - water pump?
Anyhow, the car is at Offords now (thanks Mr Manchett blokey) so I guess I find out soon.
FG
Maybe a faulty pressure cap? Its a Golf Mk2 part and apparently they do fail...which would explain the coolant boiling over, but I'm not sure about the oil pressure dropping. Coincidentally the waterpump on my car failed in Cambridge on Saturday, but luckily I stopped as soon as the temp got to 100, well before it was into the red.
Edited by nig-gtv on Thursday 15th June 10:58
The coolant can be explained by a faulty pressure cap or filling the expansion tank too high (should be about 1/2 full, not 2 inches from the top as mentioned in the manual).
The oil pressure is another matter. How low is low?
Could also potentially be a head gasket failure but let's hope not.
Ian A.
The oil pressure is another matter. How low is low?
Could also potentially be a head gasket failure but let's hope not.
Ian A.
IPAddis said:
The coolant can be explained by a faulty pressure cap or filling the expansion tank too high (should be about 1/2 full, not 2 inches from the top as mentioned in the manual).
The oil pressure is another matter. How low is low?
Could also potentially be a head gasket failure but let's hope not.
Ian A.
The oil pressure is another matter. How low is low?
Could also potentially be a head gasket failure but let's hope not.
Ian A.
the coolant levels are normally just below the seam.
The oil pressure was just below 15 but did increase under load. I'm hoping it was just oil that got too hot!
No mayo in the oil so I hope not a HGF as well.
thanks
FG
FunkyGibbon said:
the coolant levels are normally just below the seam.
The oil pressure was just below 15 but did increase under load. I'm hoping it was just oil that got too hot!
No mayo in the oil so I hope not a HGF as well.
HG could just involve exhaust gases making their way into the water jacket. If the oil wasn't involved, you wouldn't see any mayo. However it's more likely to just be a coolant pressure cap failure. I would try one of those first, available from VW.
Ian A.
FunkyGibbon said:
Diagnosis from Offords is Head Gasket Failure
With a warning that they'll have to check the cylinder liners just in case they've cracked double
With a warning that they'll have to check the cylinder liners just in case they've cracked double
It's not often I regret being right (hell, it doesn't happen that often) but this is certainly one of them. I hope you get it fixed without too much expenditure!
Ian A.
update from Offords:
Tis just the head gasket - cylinders are fine.
However, whilst digging around (their phrase) they spotted that the cam shaft was very badly worn - 2 lobes almost completely gone. I suppose that goes with the teritory with nearly 50K on the clock.
This may explain why she's been feeling a little under powered lately
Tis just the head gasket - cylinders are fine.
However, whilst digging around (their phrase) they spotted that the cam shaft was very badly worn - 2 lobes almost completely gone. I suppose that goes with the teritory with nearly 50K on the clock.
This may explain why she's been feeling a little under powered lately
final update:
It was an electrical problem causing one of the fans not to work that caused the overheat and subsequent HGF.
In a perverse way I'm glad it did, cause during rebuild it became obvious that the Cam was 5hagged.
Bl00dy hell what a difference having 8 healthy lobes instead of 6 makes. The car is now brutal under acceleration - fantastic
It was an electrical problem causing one of the fans not to work that caused the overheat and subsequent HGF.
In a perverse way I'm glad it did, cause during rebuild it became obvious that the Cam was 5hagged.
Bl00dy hell what a difference having 8 healthy lobes instead of 6 makes. The car is now brutal under acceleration - fantastic
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