[foonji]

Almost 2 months ago, my poor lil sierra developed an issue with the cooling system.

It begun running hotter than normal on longer trips/motorway driving, and was typically ok on short trips around the burbs.

During the running hot it would spew out coolant from the overflow bottle throughout the engine bay, the bottle was filled it the full mark so it wasn't overfull that was causing it. I even left it half full and would manage to spew some out. At first it would lose up to 2L of coolant.

At the recommendation of a trusty friend, I flushed out the system at home, replaced the thermostat and radiator cap. This seemed to help a little bit and but would still run hot but then would only lose upto 1L of coolant.

I put up with it for the time being, as I didn't need the car that much and I was working interstate for a week, so would fill it up after each way of long drives.

Recently I pulled out the radiator and dropped it off at the radiator man to check over and clean out. Upon returning he told me it was 60% blocked and he had cleaned it out and was all good now, so I thought you beaut thats was the problem and should all be working fine now.

However after a medium trip It once again spat out coolant. The gauge was lower than before the unclogging even.

I have bleed the system just about every 2-3 times I use it and have to top it up again.

More details; stock g13ba with ford alt upgrade and craig davies 14" thermo fan (no shroud), comes on at 95C, off at 90C. I never had a problem for the previous 8 months its been operating with the fan.

I have no idea where to go from here... What are peoples thoughts?

[Rusho]

Blown head gasket/cracked head

[tanshi]

yeah sounds like it could be that.

with the motor running, have the rad cap off and see if you can see a constant stream of bubbles.

[rpmwrx]

maybe you need to replace the water pump as well...

[foonji]

Rusho wrote:

Blown head gasket/cracked head

Better not be dude, was only done not too long ago.

tanshi wrote:

yeah sounds like it could be that.

with the motor running, have the rad cap off and see if you can see a constant stream of bubbles.

No constant stream of bubbles coming out. Only the occasional one.

rpmwrx wrote:

maybe you need to replace the water pump as well...

Was replaced about 8 months, So i would hope that wasn't it. There's no sure way of testing is there?

[tanshi]

i would still bet on head gasket

[want33s]

If the cooling system has been bled properly and there are still bubbles coming to cap there can only be one cause.... As I said when you came to pick up the canopy... Blown head gasket or possibly (but a lot less likely) a cracked head or block.

[rpmwrx]

sounds like a good excuse for an engine conversion... slot the 1.6 G16B in... oh yeah...

[foonji]

want33s wrote:

If the cooling system has been bled properly and there are still bubbles coming to cap there can only be one cause.... As I said when you came to pick up the canopy... Blown head gasket or possibly (but a lot less likely) a cracked head or block.

I am about to go and have another look at the bubble situation as of today.

rpmwrx wrote:

sounds like a good excuse for an engine conversion... slot the 1.6 G16B in... oh yeah...

I'll just by another car Its been giving me the shits lately.

[JrZook]

foonji wrote:

Rusho wrote:

Blown head gasket/cracked head

Better not be dude, was only done not too long ago.

tanshi wrote:

yeah sounds like it could be that.

with the motor running, have the rad cap off and see if you can see a constant stream of bubbles.

No constant stream of bubbles coming out. Only the occasional one.

rpmwrx wrote:

maybe you need to replace the water pump as well...

Was replaced about 8 months, So i would hope that wasn't it. There's no sure way of testing is there?

Was the headgasket re torqued? Ive seen quite a few work them self's loose on the G13

[SuziBlu]

Pull off the oil filler cap, is it milky ?

Blown head gasket or cracked head.

[foonji]

Just watched it while running for 5min (engine was still hot from earlier)

The coolant rose and no bubbles sighted during that 5min.

JrZook wrote:

Was the headgasket re torqued? Ive seen quite a few work them self's loose on the G13

Yeah she was after around 1500-2000km, and none of the bolts had budged.

[ck13488]

I had the same problem.
Oil was clean and so was coolant.
Was ok on idle but when under load/warm obviosuly the compression was escaping into cooling system.
When I did the head it looked like one of the head bolts wasn't torques up enough as it was much looser than the other!

It's not a big job so best to just get it over and done with before it causes bigger dramas! Ie cracking or warping

[andrewa]

been in the same situation. found no obvious leaks until i took
off oil cap & found oil was milky. result blown head gasket.

[steak_knife]

We swapped the rad cap for one I had in the shed & it seam's to of settled down a lil, I'm still not 100% convinced Mr foonji's head's leaking..

[JrZook]

Could still well be the radiator that is the issue then if the head is sweet. Ask Damo, he had his apparently cleaned out by the experts as it was severly blocked. Still was chasing overheating issues. Finally swapped the radiator over and all well again.