| Author |
Message |
    
Brett
| | Posted on Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 04:49 pm: | 
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Hi all,
I was driving back home from fishing , towing my boat when i noticed the temp guage suddenly shoot up to red.Upon looking under the bonnet I found that the resevoir tank had split at the seam and was emmitting steam.Once the car had cooled down I topped up the water and started the car at idle,the car had barely reached running temp when the resevoir started leaking again.I had to drive it while loosing water for about 10km to the nearest town,all the time watching the temp guage.The guage did start to climb just prior to reaching the town but not in the red.
From this I have 2 questions.
1:do you think that the tank split and then slowly discharged all the water causing the overtemp?.Or is it more likely that another component (pump,t/stat,head gasket) has failed and the split tank was a secondary event.
2:what are the first components to suffer from overtemp (bearings,rings,heads).I know these questions are best answered by a mechanic but I am just trying for some knowledge/answers.
Thanks Brett |
Pugsly (Pugsly)
| | Posted on Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 05:07 pm: |
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Brett - I would just fill it and run it. Any damage has already been caused by the overheating, you won't make it worse.
If it runs okay than count yourself lucky. If not, time to start tearing into the engine and hope it is just the heads.
I'm sure others can lend more learned opininons, but this is what I would do. |
Corey Shuman (One_Bad_Rover)
| | Posted on Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 07:23 pm: |
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First thing that you will damage is your head, especially cracking or warping it, second you can crack your block from the heat. Either or are big money replacements. You can run it with out doing anymore damage(except getting water in your oil) See how your exhaust looks and feels, put your hand by the tailpipe after it has been running a while and see if you are getting moisture, also check your oil, if you cracked or warped a head you will see the water on top of your oil. If this is the case you can sometimes get by for a while with some alum a seal stuff but that risks clogging your radiator too. Hopefully you caught it before damage and all of this is worst case scenario. Good Luck!!! |
joe (Joe)
| | Posted on Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 10:51 pm: |
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Brett, there is a new style expansion tank put out by LRNA about a year and a half ago because the all split. Is yours black or white? the new style is white. Alot of other thinks will cause it to overheat and cause tank to split. My advice is to get a new tank from the dealer at a cost of about $75.00 replace it ad run car with heater on high for awhile and see if it still overheats. If it does, then you will have to check thermastat and radiator. the eads will not usually crack but they will warp.
Cheers
Joe |
Brett
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 12:00 am: |
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Thanks all for valuable information.I have been trying to use the search button at top right of screen instead of the one hidden at bottom left.Now I have found the right keyword search I have learnt a lot from previous posts.My expansion tank is a black unit and from my enquiries the splitting of them is common.Unfortunately I have spoken with my insurance people (extended 3year warranty) and the only time they will help is if the overheating was caused by water pump failure or head failure.Radiator,hoses,expansion tanks etc all are no claim items.As it turns out I have ordered a new expansion tank and will fit this and give it a drive and see how it goes. |
Scott Hayes (Scott_H)
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 01:12 am: |
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same thing happend to me on my 95... had to drive to a town, and it overheated 2 more times. Buy the new expansion tank, thats the problem, mine seems to be ok so far and have but about 5k on it since that happened. Other thing you may want to consider, if your truck has over 100k is roddin the radiator.
Good luck |
Paul T. Schram (Paulschram)
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 09:10 am: |
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Brett:
Same thing happened to me and I overheated the truck badly. It survived those two times, but the overheating it got a week ago Wednesday wiped the heads. If your truck still runs smoothly, you're in good shape. Replace the tank and you'll be good to go.
If you must run the truck in the meantime, buy a package of universal plastic tank repair glue, scuff up the exteriro real well, apply the patch material and before you allow it to set up, put a big hose clamp around the tank to keep it under compression. This is the key to making these last until the new tank arrives. |
Russian Landy
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 09:17 am: |
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This would not happen on a BMW or many other cars, which have coolant level sensors and give a warning light when the coolant level drops (which is well BEFORE the temp starts to go up). All these needlessly overheated Landies! Maybe it really makes sense to retrofit a coolant level sensor.
Even that Polish guy who is such a fanatic managed to overheat and cook his Disco -- www.polandrover.com. He fitted a warning light and buzzer to warn of overheating. |
John Cinquegrana (Johnc)
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 09:42 am: |
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My 88 Rangie has a coolant level sensor....
So that means that no BMW has ever overheated, right? I guess I should've bought an X5...stupid me... |
Corey Shuman (One_Bad_Rover)
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 01:52 pm: |
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Russian Landy must have the ccolest bimmer ever, cause I blew a water pump in my 98 M3 and by the time the sensors detected it I had noticed the temp and turned it off, and on my 93 318 the sensors worked so well that I ended up replacing my head. I dont think it has anything to do with the car, sometime luck just bites ya in the ass. |
Greg Hirst (Gregh)
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 02:15 pm: |
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Hahaha... RRC's have a coolant sensor...it's made by BMW (My '89 even has the BMW roundel on it)!! And guess what-it has seat control switches made by MBZ, door latches that say "GM" on them and a fuel pump that's an off-the-shelf AC/Delco (GM) item. And I've had to replace several coolant sensors and seat switches for malfuntioning... |
Bill K (Bill_K)
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 03:40 pm: |
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I blew a water pump in my BMW too. The coolant level never dropped so the light never came on. As for cheap plastic coolant components, BMW is the leader. My plastic thermostat housing cracked, my plastic radiator cracked a neck, and my plastic water pump impeller shattered.
Land Rovers arent the most unreliable in EVERY catagory. |
Peter Matusov (Pmatusov)
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 05:14 pm: |
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Russian Landy,
IMHO, if your truck runs at the same temperature 99% of the time, and all of a sudden you notice the needle off its usual mark, I think it warrants pulling over and popping the hood - just to see if anything's out of order.
guess i'm just used to driving old junk and watching the gauges.
peter |
Brett
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 10:13 pm: |
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Hi again all,well I have just retreived my vehicle and it is now in my driveway,but I am still not 100% sure that all is well with my cooling system.I fitted the expansion tank and poured in as much water as the system would take.Started the car and took it for a short drive.Car ran smoothly and no moisture from exhaust or oil on dipstick but after a shortwhile (approx 5km)temp guage went up again.Pulled over to the side of the road and almost immediately guage dropped back to normal??.I suspected that maybe I needed to bleed the cooling system as every now and then when the thermostat opened steam was passing the temp guage and causing temporaryhigh reading?(just speculation).So with the motor off but still at running temp I slowly cracked the lid on the exspansion tank and bled off steam this was accompinied by bubbling in the tank but no water escaped.Once all pressure was released the tank level would drain to empty.I topped up and tried again and repeated process every time the temp guage shot high.I guess that I would have added approx another 8 litreds of water (how much does the system hold???).Comfortable that the system was close to full and after driving several laps of the town to check temp all looked good so I decided to set off the 90km to home(should note that I replaced the thermostat for good measure as well).On the way home I noticed a lot of fluctuation in my temp guageSometimes only moving just above half then quickly back to half,but other times going higher but never for long.I know this is the thermostat opening and letting the cooled water flow but it was all over the place like a mad womens shit.The car made the journey home without incident but I am still concerned about the few times the needle climbed towards red breifly.Is there a sure fire way to bleed the cooling system or know for sure that the level is good.At present I am letting the car cool to ambient and then going to check level again. |
GregH
| | Posted on Friday, December 06, 2002 - 11:19 pm: |
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Did you notice if the exhaust was rather white and "steamy". You did mention the "bubbling" in the expansion tank? And using alot of water/coolant? Sounds like a possible head gasket or warped head(s). Check your plugs-I hope I'm not right. You might also rule that your temp sender for gauge is not malfunctioning-mine has.
Good luck-
GregH |
Mahn England
| | Posted on Saturday, December 07, 2002 - 12:51 am: |
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Hi from smokey Sydney,
Having cooked my Tdi as a result of a head gasket failure I will be getting one of these:
http://www.smartalert.com.au/
$50 Oz could have saved $8000 Oz for the rebuild.
Speaking of overheating, we are here:
http://abc.net.au/news/galleries/2002/12fires/pages/pic4.htm
Enjoying the informative banter on this Board!
Mahn |
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