[Bucket]

So I went out 4x4ing this evening with my mate and we were up the tracks for about 2hours. I kept watching my temp guage and it was reading about the middle where it normally is.

The problem is when I stopped cos it was getting dark to take my hubs out and head home, that I saw a bit more then usual steam coming from under my bonnet. I thought it might be normal since we were going through some water, but after listening a bit I could hear fluids bubbling.

Clearly, my temp gauge must be reading wrong. Does anyone know what would cause it to read wrong? I'm afraid I might've overheated something and wreaked it or something

[v.w.dave]

Hey mate. I only have a carby 1.6 I had the same problem and was pulling my hair out looking for the problem. As I said mine is carby so not sure if it will be the same for you.

My T-stat was stuck about half way open. Not exactly sure how or why it was doing it. My temp gauge while driving was just slightly hot but when I would stop it would always boil over. I think with it being open all the time the coolant didnt have tiime to cool in the radiator. When all this was happening my temp gauge never once showed it was over heating.

[Bucket]

Hmmm, I'll have a look in the morning. It's driving me crazy, cos I'm scared i've broke something and i'm not sure if its actually happened before without me noticing.

Also gotta pull my wheels off and find where my damn sqeak is coming from, and why my shocks are being all fucked up.

[GriMo]

Were both top and bottom radiator hoses hot, or was the bottom almost cold? It should be cooler but not cold? If the bottom was cold more likely then not Rad core is blocked. Also is the core itself blocked externally with mud, mashed bugs, etc?

Try removing the thermostat and chuck it in a pot of boiling water, it should open and stay open. Alternatively, just put a new one in, they dont cost much and seeing as you have it out anyway it might aswell be replaced. If putting it in a pot of boiling water it doesnt open, chances are thats your issue.

Also check your radiator cap isnt fouled and is seating correctly. Cooling systems are most efficient under pressure (most likely 0.9 Bar but might be less, it will be on the cap). If the spring is weak, or the seal has deterioated/isnt seating correctly it wont hold pressure.

Check smaller hoses, if any have had exposure to oil they might have softened and be sucking closed. Unlikely but had it happen to my old car when under load.

After checking all of that if it still happens pull the water pump out, chances are the impeller has corroded away(previous owners not using coolant etc) and water is only circulating because of temperature differential.

It could also be something as simple as a fan not engaging when it should be, and your not getting enough airflow through the radiator. That being said i wouldnt imagine it would get that hot in the time it took your to disengage hubs. was the gauge reading accurately when you got back in the car or was it still registering as "normal" even with the bubbling etc.

Check for milky oil is a primitive but somewhat effective way to check for head/gasket damage. im not hugely familiar with waterjacket etc layout in the sierra engines but you may also find a slight amount of oil in your radiator. When COLD remove rad cp and start the engine, you dont want to see a constant stream of bubbles.

[Bucket]

Quote:

Were both top and bottom radiator hoses hot, or was the bottom almost cold? It should be cooler but not cold? If the bottom was cold more likely then not Rad core is blocked. Also is the core itself blocked externally with mud, mashed bugs, etc?

I'm not really sure about the radiator hoses because I didn't open my bonnet up. I was still out in the bush and didn't want a facefull of hot shit if it blew open (happened to my dad with his bundera)

Quote:

It could also be something as simple as a fan not engaging when it should be, and your not getting enough airflow through the radiator. That being said i wouldnt imagine it would get that hot in the time it took your to disengage hubs. was the gauge reading accurately when you got back in the car or was it still registering as "normal" even with the bubbling etc.

Well I figure it had been boiling for some time and that I only noticed when I got out to disengage my hubs. My gauge had been reading around the middle (normal) for the whole night. Even when i get back into my car it was fine.

[DMAC]

Bubbling/steam is more than likely from your overflow bottle for the radiator.

Did you turn off your engine to unlock the hubs?
Reason is the water pump stops and the water in the block is still being heated which in turm adds more pressure to the cooling system. This in turn pushes on the radiator cap realease and the bubbling steam thing happens. I have had this happen at about 3/4 temp when I stopped the car.

It could be as simple as replacing the radiator cap.

[Bucket]

Does anyone want to help me kill myself?

So I went and washed my car but before leaving I filled my resivour tank up with water, just past the full line. Get home, its empty. Open radiator cap, empty.....

So i've either somehow boiled ALL the water out, or cracked it. For now i'm going to fill it up with water. Oh, and my engine light is coming on and I get a bit of a gurgle in second, so i'm thinking I need to clean my dizzy out (happened a few times before).

UPDATE: I filled both my radiator and overflow up but I think it's still slowly leaking out of the radiator. Going to wait an hour or so and see if it's stopped.

[zooker]

The radiator in my sierra was mysteriously losing water. Turned out to be a crack in the actual radiator.

I tell you what though, how tough are sierra 1.3's. I was probably driving for 3-4 hours with no water in the radiator and its still good

[DMAC]

Be very careful if you can't see any water leaking/dripping out anywhere you may have a blown had gasket.

This can fill a cylinder with water.
Any sign of water in the oil? I.e. Milky colour. One of the signs but still possible to leak between water gallery and cylinder won't show in the oil.

If you don't find a leak I would pull all the spark plugs and turn it over. You will soon know if the head gasket is gone by the water shooting out.

Good luck.

[Bucket]

DMAC wrote:

Be very careful if you can't see any water leaking/dripping out anywhere you may have a blown had gasket.

This can fill a cylinder with water.
Any sign of water in the oil? I.e. Milky colour. One of the signs but still possible to leak between water gallery and cylinder won't show in the oil.

If you don't find a leak I would pull all the spark plugs and turn it over. You will soon know if the head gasket is gone by the water shooting out.

Good luck.

I thought i'd start with the basics of seeing if i've lost any water overnight.
Tomorrow i'm gunna check the oils (forgot to check today).

Does that method of taking the spark plugs out actually work lol?

[GriMo]

depends on where the leak is. You can also get a pressure test kit, useful for finding split hoses etc, and it may so a pressure drop/loss. If you dont see water spraying out of a hose its beeing lost internally.

I have never used it but apparently there is some kind of fluid you can use to detect the pressence of exhaust gases in your coolant. Maybe someone has more info on this.

Just remember though there is a reason it got hot. Just replacing a gasket is unlikely to fix the underlying issue.

[DMAC]

Bucket wrote:

I thought i'd start with the basics of seeing if i've lost any water overnight.
Tomorrow i'm gunna check the oils (forgot to check today).

Does that method of taking the spark plugs out actually work lol?

Will stop the cylinder hydraulicing. Last head gasket I did, took the head off and one cylinder was half full of water. Crank it over like that and its major broken bits.

GriMo right with trying a pressure test too.

GriMo wrote:

Just remember though there is a reason it got hot. Just replacing a gasket is unlikely to fix the underlying issue.

[atari4x4]

when at running temp does it pump out steam from the exhaust like a steam train?

[Bucket]

atari4x4 wrote:

when at running temp does it pump out steam from the exhaust like a steam train?

Nope, just in the morning when its first started.