Spitfire Over heating? Any ideas?

[houlio]

I have a 1500 spitfire, used as my daily driver. Has recently started to spray rusty water out of the radiator and all over the engine bay, suggesting that it is over heating. The temp gauge doesn’t reach over half way when the kenlow fan is running. So I doubt the engine is over heating.

My first thoughts are that there may be a blockage in the radiator or cooling system so the water isn’t circulating and not cooling down?

Or that the radiator cap is no longer sealing the radiator securely? It appears undamaged, rubber seals ok.

Any suggestions?

[Wacky Racer]

Disconnect the top hose from the radiator, and flush out the system with a running hose pipe for fifteen minutes till the water runs clear......

Don't forget to refill the antifreeze afterwards, and for what they cost fit a new rad cap to be on the safe side.......

Even if it doesn't cure the problem you will have got rid of all the crap, and your engine should run cooler..........

[AJLintern]

Yes it's amazing the amount of crap that comes out, I did this when I last serviced mine.
Is the coolant spraying out of the radiator itself or from a hose joint?

[houlio]

Thanks for the advice,
Is it worth using radiator flush to clean out the muck allso?

[houlio]

The water is rust colored and coming out of the radiator cap,
There is no water in the oil or mayonnaise in the water, so I am hoping / assuming that the head gasket hasn’t broken.

Am flushing cooling system, replacing thermostat and radiator cap tonight to see if matters improve.

[houlio]

Turns out it wa a bust head gasket and doddgy thermometer, so the engine was getting hot but not registering so.

[tr3a]

houlio said:

Turns out it wa a bust head gasket and doddgy thermometer, so the engine was getting hot but not registering so.

What was dodgy exactly, the sensor or the gauge? Sensors pack up regularly, but I've yet to see a temp gauge fail.

[houlio]

Apparently it was the sensor, the gauge read up to half as expected and over 3/4 when the radiator was boiling dry.

Unfortunately the saga ended with the shells in the big end going and so my local triumph guy had to drop a new engine in earlier this week, so head gasket, and temp gauges were all sorted in one fell swoop,

The final current ailment is a tapping cam follower apparently, which I understand is merely annoying and not life threatening to the engine?

[AJLintern]

Not sure if you have the original temp gauge, but a worthwhile mod is to change it for the Smiths dual oil pressure/water temp gauge. It's much more reliable and accurate than the electric type. It's nice to know what the oil pressure is too!

[tr3a]

AJLintern said:

Not sure if you have the original temp gauge, but a worthwhile mod is to change it for the Smiths dual oil pressure/water temp gauge. It's much more reliable and accurate than the electric type. It's nice to know what the oil pressure is too!

I disagree.

The standard temp gauge on a Spitfire is dead reliable, only the sensors break sometimes and they cost peanuts.
The Smiths combined Poil/Twater gauges is expensive and the ether-filled circuit for the temp gauge is bloody expensive to have fixed by a specialist if it goes wrong.

I do agree that an oil pressure gauge is a good thing to have, and they're cheap and easy to get.

[AJLintern]

But it's only about £60 and it either works or it doesn't. An electrical one can suffer from all sorts of strange readings, due to voltage regulator or dodgy connections etc.