Foam in coolant
Discussion
Hi, can anyone help? I have a crossflow 1700. I went to check the coolant and there is a small amount of white foamy stuff in the water, but not sludge. There is nothing in the oil and it's clean. Also, the oil catch tank is getting quite quickly filled with a thin oily/petrol smelling substance.I know that's why it's there but just want to confirm that it fills up roughly 100ml after 100 miles.
Thanks, John.
Thanks, John.
Well, when my Honda's head let go, there were only 2 tiny cracks in the head gasket, it cost £600 to fix it but that was a big garage that sorted it for me. Head off, check the gasket, replace it and get the head skimmed, it can be very cheap if you take it to the right engineering firm.
rose5691 said:
Hi, can anyone help? I have a crossflow 1700. I went to check the coolant and there is a small amount of white foamy stuff in the water, but not sludge. There is nothing in the oil and it's clean. Also, the oil catch tank is getting quite quickly filled with a thin oily/petrol smelling substance.I know that's why it's there but just want to confirm that it fills up roughly 100ml after 100 miles.
Thanks, John.
oily/petrol smelling?its all in that piece of information,Thanks, John.
HEADGASKET FAILURE
just because you have no mayo in the oil is no indication of certain headgasket failure,get a garage to carry out a dye test on the cooling system to confirm combustion gasses are present in the cooling system,its a piece of p*ss job on the X/FLOW anyways,good luck,i always used FEL/PRO gaskets on my X/FLOW,s available from Burton Power Products,and no need for re-torqueing the cylinder head bolts.Edited by That Daddy on Saturday 26th April 22:39
rose5691 said:
Thanks- How much for parts do you think and how long should it take? Are there any step by step manuals and can I still drive it without causing more damage?
Cheers, John.
Scrap the top end and buy another 1! Ebay is your friends, maybe as little as £1 for another head! X-flows are good up to a point, I remember the days of the Clubman racers, getting 180-200bhp from their 1700s then the championship swapped to the Vx XE redtop, great engine, if a little heavy!Cheers, John.
Hold on, by catch tank do you mean oil catch tank ?
Slight foam doesn't sound like head gasket to me, it sounds more like cavitation. Which could be down to simply having the wrong water/ coolant mix in the engine.
Get the engine to a garage and have the header tank sniff tested for HYdrocarbons.
Dave!
Slight foam doesn't sound like head gasket to me, it sounds more like cavitation. Which could be down to simply having the wrong water/ coolant mix in the engine.
Get the engine to a garage and have the header tank sniff tested for HYdrocarbons.
Dave!
Howitzer said:
Hold on, by catch tank do you mean oil catch tank ?
Slight foam doesn't sound like head gasket to me, it sounds more like cavitation. Which could be down to simply having the wrong water/ coolant mix in the engine.
Get the engine to a garage and have the header tank sniff tested for HYdrocarbons.
Dave!
What about the oily/petrol smelling stuff thenSlight foam doesn't sound like head gasket to me, it sounds more like cavitation. Which could be down to simply having the wrong water/ coolant mix in the engine.
Get the engine to a garage and have the header tank sniff tested for HYdrocarbons.
Dave!
don,t scrap the top end either,if its been bored to 1700 then the chances are the heads been reworked,you may also buy someone else,s problem head
That Daddy said:
[its a piece of p*ss job on the X/FLOW anyways
Worst bit of fixing a major HGF on a Crossflow is flushing the oil if it becomes contaminated with coolant, so if yours is showing early signs, change the head gasket before it fails altogether. You could teach a reasonably bright chimp to do it within a couple of days (KwikFit trainee take up to a week), so no need to pay a garage to do it - get yourself a Haynes manual and a torque wrench!And for heaven's sake don't take Absolutely's advice and scrap the head - as That Daddy says, it's likely to have been ported if it's on a 1700 Crossflow and you might be throwing away a perfectly good had only to replace it with someone else's problem head. Crossflow heads, being cast iron, aren't prone to warping like alloy heads, so you probably won't even need to have it skimmed. Obviously, take the opportunity to clean up and re-seat the valves while you've got the head off, though.
Get a chemical/sniff test done to confirm the HGF diagnosis then, if confirmed, change the gasket immediately, before it blows big style and contaminates your oil. If you must drive it (even to the garage to get the test done), then watch the temperatue gauge like a hawk.
Cheers, although it really does only seem like it's a t-spoon of the stuff and only when the engine is cold-and it disappears into nothing if you rub it between your fingers and doesn't really leave an oily film. It's a bit like soap suds. While we're not on the subject of gearboxes, is there any way of telling which one I have apart from visually-I'm looking for a big sticker saying, "John, your gearbox is....."
Cheers, John.
Cheers, John.
rose5691 said:
While we're not on the subject of gearboxes, is there any way of telling which one I have apart from visually-I'm looking for a big sticker saying, "John, your gearbox is....."
No, unfortunately not. The visual differences between gearboxes are pretty obvious anyway, though.
From your response on your other thread, I'm assuming that you have a 5-speed, since you think it might be a Type 9? It is fairly unlikely that you have anything other than a Type 9 or an MT75 in a Crossflow Westfield, and they look very different (see link I posted on your other thread), so a quick look under the car whilst on ramps (or sticking your arm underneath & taking a few photos with a digital camera) will tell you as well as anything.
If you're expecting a code stamped on the chassis plate or something like that, then I'm afraid you're out of luck!
You need to have the system pressure tested to see if the coolant is becoming contaminated with combustion gas or oil.
Neither is good.
While you may well be able to fix the gasket, one thing you do need to do is get the oil out. A very effective way is to use dishwasher liquid - use a detergent one, not an enzyme one - just run the engine until warm with the thermostat out and then flush all of the coolant, detergent & oil out. If you han obtain Ferroquest FQ7101 then use that to clean ut corrosion from the block & head - it will work wonders at keeping the engne cool. Finally, refill with 50%/50% conventional coolant. I'd avoid OAT - it is incompatible with silicone. Good luck.
Neither is good.
While you may well be able to fix the gasket, one thing you do need to do is get the oil out. A very effective way is to use dishwasher liquid - use a detergent one, not an enzyme one - just run the engine until warm with the thermostat out and then flush all of the coolant, detergent & oil out. If you han obtain Ferroquest FQ7101 then use that to clean ut corrosion from the block & head - it will work wonders at keeping the engne cool. Finally, refill with 50%/50% conventional coolant. I'd avoid OAT - it is incompatible with silicone. Good luck.
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