Swirl pot & expansion both full.....
Discussion
Guys bit of advice. My pot is brimmed and so is the expansion tank.
Fans kick in and out fine between 80 - 90.
Expansion slots a little out when hot but no much.
Should I drain the expansion to about 1/3?
Anything else I should look at.
History...
I replaced the water pump and possibly over filled the system afterwards...before the expansion was always just below the weld line.
I filled it up using the method of raising the front car, using a funnel in screwed into swirl pot etc to do my best to eliminate any Air.
Car does not overheat, sitting in traffic it sits at 90 with fans kicking in and out.
On the move it sits at 70.
Fans kick in and out fine between 80 - 90.
Expansion slots a little out when hot but no much.
Should I drain the expansion to about 1/3?
Anything else I should look at.
History...
I replaced the water pump and possibly over filled the system afterwards...before the expansion was always just below the weld line.
I filled it up using the method of raising the front car, using a funnel in screwed into swirl pot etc to do my best to eliminate any Air.
Car does not overheat, sitting in traffic it sits at 90 with fans kicking in and out.
On the move it sits at 70.
If the expansion pot is full when cold then it isn't okay. Coolant expands when hot, hence the expansion pot. The coolant must be expanding into a vapour space somewhere. Your symptoms almost indicate that the coolant has boiled at some time, that's what fills the expansion pot. Boiling would normally create a vapour space in the swirl pot. All I can suggest is that the vapour space may be somewhere else. For the system to be in a 'primed' condition, i.e. no vapour in the system, there has to be a vapour space in the expansion pot, normally a third full when cold
tonys said:
Presumably heater control was set to 'hot' when you filled it?
They generally seem to run with the expansion pot between approx 1/3 and 1/2 full.
Have you tried the bleed 'screw' on the radiator?
Yep, I did it the following way.They generally seem to run with the expansion pot between approx 1/3 and 1/2 full.
Have you tried the bleed 'screw' on the radiator?
1. Raised Front of Car
2. Took caps of Swirl, expansion and Rad set heater to full heat setting
3. Screwed funnel into swirl pot
4. Filled expansion to half way point, put cap on.
5. Filled swirl until water came out the Rad bleed then did that up.
6. Carried on filling until bubbles stopped coming into funnel screwed into swirl pot.
7. Started car up and let it run and then poured in more coolant as thermostat opened and level dropped.
8. Put swirl cap back on
9. Left car to run and fans kicked in
10. Let it cool down and checked levels, topped up as needed.
I think the only thing I would have done differently would have been to leave the cap off the expansion cap when filling cold, possibly making it easier for air to escape as the system is not under pressure at that time. In reality, it shouldn't make much difference.
Accepting that the temp gauges are not always reliable, your readings seem okay and within normal bounds. Does the heater push out hot air? If so, indicates water in matrix, if not, possible air lock in heater.
You could try just squeezing a few hoses to see if that dislodges any air pockets.
I'd also gently open the rad bleed screw when running to check no new air pocket there.
Have you tried just syphoning some coolant out of expansion tank, to say 1/3 level and seeing what happens. Unless I've misread your post, are you saying that the main issue is that your expansion tank is full when cold and kicking out a small amount when hot, if so, that would be normal as the tank shouldn't be full when cold.
When you say at item 10 that you topped up, did you top up the expansion tank to the top?
Another thought, is the small outlet pipe at the bottom of the expansion tank clear - there are reports of them getting blocked with crud.
Did something happen to make you change the pump in the first place, was it leaking or did the car overheat?
If you start with the expansion tank 1/3 full, run it to temperature, fans cut in, and out, heater blows hot air, temperature gauge within bounds you've already mentioned and it doesn't spew out coolant, then that would seem fine.
Accepting that the temp gauges are not always reliable, your readings seem okay and within normal bounds. Does the heater push out hot air? If so, indicates water in matrix, if not, possible air lock in heater.
You could try just squeezing a few hoses to see if that dislodges any air pockets.
I'd also gently open the rad bleed screw when running to check no new air pocket there.
Have you tried just syphoning some coolant out of expansion tank, to say 1/3 level and seeing what happens. Unless I've misread your post, are you saying that the main issue is that your expansion tank is full when cold and kicking out a small amount when hot, if so, that would be normal as the tank shouldn't be full when cold.
When you say at item 10 that you topped up, did you top up the expansion tank to the top?
Another thought, is the small outlet pipe at the bottom of the expansion tank clear - there are reports of them getting blocked with crud.
Did something happen to make you change the pump in the first place, was it leaking or did the car overheat?
If you start with the expansion tank 1/3 full, run it to temperature, fans cut in, and out, heater blows hot air, temperature gauge within bounds you've already mentioned and it doesn't spew out coolant, then that would seem fine.
Edited by tonys on Wednesday 13th July 23:01
I'd remove some coolant from the expansion tank down to about 1/4 full
Re check level in swirl pot and top up if reqired to base of threads and do the heat cycle again making sure fans have kicked in and out. Leave to cool and check expansion tank level again.
If your temps are staying put and fans are working then it's probably just over filled.
Re check level in swirl pot and top up if reqired to base of threads and do the heat cycle again making sure fans have kicked in and out. Leave to cool and check expansion tank level again.
If your temps are staying put and fans are working then it's probably just over filled.
Going by all your comments, going with me over filling.
Water pump replaced as weep hole was leaking. Also had a leaking rad so that was also replaced.
Everything else seems to be working, heater pumping out plenty hot air etc..
So I'll go down the siphoning out expansion option and see were that takes me.
Ta all.
Water pump replaced as weep hole was leaking. Also had a leaking rad so that was also replaced.
Everything else seems to be working, heater pumping out plenty hot air etc..
So I'll go down the siphoning out expansion option and see were that takes me.
Ta all.
You need to understand some physics here. If the car has gone through a heat cycle with the system sealed then the only way you can have a cold engine with a full expansion and swirl pot is by having a vapour space somewhere in system. The heat cycle requires a compressible volume to expand and contract in. That should be your expansion pot. I can only conclude that your system is not fully primed.
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