Loosing water
Well my wags is using a bit of water. Filled it up yesterday and it used about a litre last night. Its not going into the oil because i did an oil change yesterday.. none in there. It was over heated a while back. It has a brand new radiator in it as well as a new top hose. The heater core doesnt seem to be leaking. No damp carpet inside. BUT i can smell coolant when im driving sometimes. Im also getting clumpy brown sludge in the radiator. But i think the engine must need a flush as i dont remember doing it when i changed the radiator. The car is also running alot hotter then it used to. (before i overheated it).. It used to run on the first notch on the guage now it sits on the third one.
Any help would greatly be appreciative.
The only thing i can really think of is that its spitting coolant out the exhaust in small quantities.
Thanks
Michael
Donating Member
Turn the car on and run it in your driveway for 10 minutes...see if you can see where its leaking. See if leaves anything on the ground whilst keeping an eye out under the bonnet....that might give you some leads?
Use proper coolant as well. You cant just use water in the VN's and onwards, or the cheap coolant either.
Ahhh Yes, Ahhh Yes....
Give your system a decent flush and fill her up with coolant. If its still loosing fluid, onto the clean concrete and run it for 10mins... any spills you know to start looking... a torch at night seems to be the go for finding leaks.
Im guessing its overheating because you've got a block somewhere, Lack of free flow = lack of fluid in some areas = Increased heat.
aZk.
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Originally Posted by ryno_vrx
if your running straight water with no coolant it will most likely be evaporation which means your over flow tank lid needs to be sealed properly. use teflon tape around the thread on the tank and add coolant i had the same problem with mine and make sure there is no cracks or splits in your overflow tank
Donating Member
You shouldnt be running straight water without coolant full stop. And you shouldnt be using cheap coolant full stop. On VL's etc. the cheaper coolant was fine, on VN's you have to get the reccomended coolant.
Another thing to look out for is really small cracks happening on the radiator tank. Owned 2 VN's that both ended up with this. This happens where the fan shroud bolts onto the radiator. This happened on the driver's side on both cars on mine, not sure if it happens on the other side. This is assuming you have plastic tanks on your rad.
we like the bun
if you run straight water you will corrode stuff, possibly the head gasket and you are likely to get it in the combustion chamber, if not the oil.
losing that much fluid sounds like a head gasket failure if it's not leaking out elsewhere.
Donating Member
Also check it hasnt cracked where the radiator hoses connect to the radiator. Same issue as what RobMooar said. The radiators after the VL were made from plastic, and they didnt last like the old metal ones. Its ofte the little plastic peice where the hoses connect to that go first...
ok anyway, i am using coolant and it is the cheap stuff. BUT i jumped out of it today to see coolant pissing out on the ground. Looks like my bew radiator has shat itself. I cant exactly see where its leaking from cause its behind t hat fuel cansiter thingo thats attached to the radiator. Time to pull the warrenty out i thinks.
we like the bun
it's probably just a loose connection loosing coolant under pressure. check where the leak is coming from before calling the radiator joint.
yeah.. i gotta rip the fan out and move a few things and work it out. I brought the radiator on ebay but the warentee is aus wide to my nearest natrad dealer so yeah.
Well i just ripped the fan out and that tank thingo.. Looks like its the bottom tank.. I called the guy i brought it off and i have to take my car to a radiator joint and get a "report" on it then send it back to him so he can send it to the manufactuer.. blah blah blah... OR i could send the radiator back to him... hahaha NOT HAPPY..
ok i went down to the local radiator joint to see if i can get the report thingo. well anyway it was caused from overheating it and i have spread one of the aluminum thingos and it needs re-clamping. Anyway long story short if i rip it out which only takes 5 minutes it will cost me $30... But the story continues..
He recommends that i get a new thermostat and radiator cap. I no it needs a cap but thermostat..
What is a thermostat worth???
Michael
Donating Member
Depends where you buy it. $10-$20
ok took the radiator out and took it down to the radiator shop... Told me a needed a new one. I warped the hole thing. Couldnt see through it at all.. Was basically almost blown in many many diffrent places. So i had to get another new one.. And a new thermostat and a new radiator cap and coolant. Havent got the coolant yet cause i ran out of money before.
Radiator cost me $230
Thermostat - $15 ish with the new gasket
Cap - $ 10
Coolant - not sure but the stuff he told me to use is expensive
we like the bun
correct me if i'm wrong but it sounds like you haven't nailed the cuase of the overheating. if you put yet another new radiator in it will probably just blow again.
you said you had brown sludge in it. do this - take the exhaust headers off and have a close look at the welch plugs. actually you may be able to inspect them through the headers. check for corrosion around the edges - even a little bit.
sludge will collect in the water jacket behind the plugs and block the system up. corrosion of the plugs is a telltale sign. if that's the case, you'll need to bump the plugs out and clean the jackets with your fingers
this is a PITA but cleverer than just blowing another replacement radiator.
no i know why it over heated. I was doing 220 on the spot in a bunout comp and coudnt see my guage. Actually i couldnt see at all. Anyway thats why it overheated. Its getting a full clean out before its put back together. Just waiting for it to cool down enough. Will prob just do it in the morning first thing
Is ur car a series I or II? After you have flushed your system and fill the rad, on a series II you need to jam a plastic milk bottle in the rad and fill it that way and bleed the top hose, this can also cause overheating on the series 2 and above motors (echotech included). By filling the rad with the miilk bottle jammed in the hole, it will get the water higher than the top hise so that you can bleed it properly. Not sure if you can get the proper tool to do this, I have a feeling that service agents can get them, but I think we plebs hav to pay them for the serviceAlso, if you believe holden, you need to put water conditioning tablets in the water to prevent corrosion and blockages.
hmmm well i just got it all together. Started her up.. and bang whe dont go. Starts ok. But runs like a bucket of crap. was running fine yesterday. Now if you rev it, it brakes down makes piston slap noises and then stops. In gear it does the same thing. Hmmmm time to look at a couople of other threads
Coolant loss
Another cause of coolant consumption is stuffed inlet manifold gaskets - particularly if the motor has been hot. I have two motors in bits (both the same) - see attached picture.
The gasket between the inlet and coolant passages crumbles allowing coolant into the manifold - causes the car to run like a hairy goat when cold! The engine oil doesn't appear to get discoloured, so not too much coolant gets to the sump?
hmm thanks for that mate. CRAP i forgot to take my car down and get an electrolisous test done on it. My car is running like a bucket and that could very well be what it is. Ive gotta get a new inlet manifold causei need to put my tb on the other side so i might get that over and done with very soon so i can see if thats a problem also.
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