Green Stuff and Loads of Air

[v8owner]

Hi There...

My mate has a chimera 5.0 v8 (p plate). Something funny is going on...

The engine is producing alot of air in the swirl pot, (so much you can here it bubbleing as you walk away) and there is a strange green 'algae' in the water.

The car does not overheat however and doesnt seem to have any problems otherwise, other than blasting water out of the swirl pot when its really pushed hard.

He admits he has a cheap rad on it... but this has coped fine for the track days hes done..

Please help/advise any thoughts!!!

thanks
g

[slikk]

v8owner said:

Hi There... My mate has a chimera 5.0 v8 (p plate). Something funny is going on... The engine is producing alot of air in the swirl pot, (so much you can here it bubbleing as you walk away) and there is a strange green 'algae' in the water. The car does not overheat however and doesnt seem to have any problems otherwise, other than blasting water out of the swirl pot when its really pushed hard. He admits he has a cheap rad on it... but this has coped fine for the track days hes done.. Please help/advise any thoughts!!! thanks g

I had this many years ago with a Scimitar. It was a blown head gasket, but i never saw any emulsion or sign of water leakage, just the bubbling when turning the engine off

kim

[GreenV8S]

That will be a blown head gasket.

[v8owner]

Thanks Guys..
thought it might be but thought the car would have had some running difficulties?... running hot etc.

Is it normal for the car to run ok? or have we caught it very early?

Graeme

[GreenV8S]

Depending how badly it has gone, he might be benefiting from a bit of water injection and suffering from a lack of cooling round the heads. There's plenty of opportunity to damage the head and/or block faces if he keeps on driving it, so I would drive it as little/as gently as possible until it has been repaired.

Edited to add: It's also possible to hydraulically lock the engine if the leak gets bad enough. My old A series went from going like a rocket (loads of water injection) to a broken crank in the blink of an eye.

>> Edited by GreenV8S on Thursday 26th May 17:10