Coolant Problem Since Remap- Please Help

[Chris.Mcd]

Hi

Hope you guys / girls can help me out. Long read please bare with me.

Last week I got my car remapped by Andy F. Since then my car has been over heating alot. Although I did manage to drive all the way to edinburgh and half way back with no problems at all.

It started by the temperature guage staying on red for like 2 secs then going back down to normal temp but then it started staying on red. Obviously I was not driving on red for any amount of time.

I discovered that the coolant from the resovoir (sp) tank was not staying in there ( one on top left of the engine) , it just kept going into the main tank( one beside battery) causing this to overfill.

I thought this was a sign of my head gasket going, so first of all i drained the coolant then replaced it with brand new stuff. Then I took it to a garage close to me to check the head gasket. They said nothing was wrong at the moment. I got the car back last night.

Last night I took it for a wee drive and everything was fine for about half an hour but again it started to over heat. Stopped at a garage and again nothing in resovoir(sp) tank and the main tank had overfilled again.

Filled the resovoir tank( one on top left of the engine) back up with coolant and drove home 10 miles and it never over heated once.

I dont have a clue what this could be , Has anyone got any ideas at all???

Thanks

Chris

Edited October 26, 2007 by Chris.Mcd

[scoob fae ork]

Hi

Hope you guys / girls can help me out. Long read please bare with me.

Last week I got my car remapped by Andy F. Since then my car has been over heating alot. Although I did manage to drive all the way to edinburgh and half way back with no problems at all.

It started by the temperature guage staying on red for like 2 secs then going back down to normal temp but then it started staying on red. Obviously I was not driving on red for any amount of time.

I discovered that the coolant from the resovoir (sp) tank was not staying in there, it just kept going into the main tank causing this to overfill.

I thought this was a sign of my head gasket going, so first of all i drained the coolant then replaced it with brand new stuff. Then I took it to a garage close to me to check the head gasket. They said nothing was wrong at the moment. I got the car back last night.

Last night I took it for a wee drive and everything was fine for about half an hour but again it started to over heat. Stopped at a garage and again nothing in resovoir(sp) tank and the main tank had overfilled again.

Filled the resovoir tank back up with coolant and drove home 10 miles and it never over heated once.

I dont have a clue what this could be , Has anyone got any ideas at all???

Thanks

Chris

It could still be the head gasket My old MG ZR 160 had a blowen head gasket but no one could find a problem with it but it had the exact same symtoms as your describing and what it was as the car warmed up it let off bubbles in to the water then after a long run it would be ok till the next time you started the car . Or you could just check your pressure cap it might just be that gone faulty. Hope this helps

[Chris.Mcd]

It could still be the head gasket My old MG ZR 160 had a blowen head gasket but no one could find a problem with it but it had the exact same symtoms as your describing and what it was as the car warmed up it let off bubbles in to the water then after a long run it would be ok till the next time you started the car . Or you could just check your pressure cap it might just be that gone faulty. Hope this helps

Thanks - I am just praying its not the head gasket Pressure cap looks fine - could it be faulty but look fine? ( Sorry for stupid sounding questions)

Would the cap being faulty cause the problems I am describing?

Anymore idea's ?

Thanks

[drb5]

Sticky thermostat or cooling fans coming on intermittantly....?

[scoob fae ork]

Thanks - I am just praying its not the head gasket Pressure cap looks fine - could it be faulty but look fine? ( Sorry for stupid sounding questions)

Would the cap being faulty cause the problems I am describing?

Anymore idea's ?

Thanks

Thats what i was told with the MG as the system would not be able to build the correct pressure to operate. But its only a thought. Maybe could be a water pump???

[andrew_forrest]

Hi Chris

There were no signs during mapping to suggest the head gasket was on its way out, your year of car does not normally have an issue with the steel shim gaskets (pre 97 cars with fibre gaskets do)

I think it was the other car that day that had a coolant puddle under it prior to mapping ?

IIRC your car was the one that originally had a faulty fuel injector that was stuck wide open and was flooding the engine, I'm wondering if at any point it may have had a hydraulic lock that has 'bumped' the gasket ?

If you had just renewed the coolant before going to the garage for a check then they may not have picked up the fault as they run a hydrocarbon test on the coolant, fresh stuff would appear ok.

Andy

[Chris.Mcd]

Hi Chris

There were no signs during mapping to suggest the head gasket was on its way out, your year of car does not normally have an issue with the steel shim gaskets (pre 97 cars with fibre gaskets do)

I think it was the other car that day that had a coolant puddle under it prior to mapping ?

IIRC your car was the one that originally had a faulty fuel injector that was stuck wide open and was flooding the engine, I'm wondering if at any point it may have had a hydraulic lock that has 'bumped' the gasket ?

If you had just renewed the coolant before going to the garage for a check then they may not have picked up the fault as they run a hydrocarbon test on the coolant, fresh stuff would appear ok.

Andy

Hi Andy

Na it was my car that had the coolant puddle under it prior to mapping and also the faulty injector that was stuck open.

Sorry not familiar with the terms hydraulic lock and 'bumped the gasket' , what would cause this to happen and what would the damage be?

Thanks

Chris

[Chris.Mcd]

Hi Andy

Na it was my car that had the coolant puddle under it prior to mapping and also the faulty injector that was stuck open.

Sorry not familiar with the terms hydraulic lock and 'bumped the gasket' , what would cause this to happen and what would the damage be?

Thanks

Chris

Also, I bought a new radiator cap today and its still doing the same.

Fans seem to be working like normal

Sticky thermosat - could be that.

Just dont want to do trial and error on things and therefore having to spend a fortune on things that i dont need. I have spent enough on the car in the last two months

Thanks

Chris

[andrew_forrest]

I remember now, it was when we came back from the mapping that you told us about the puddle that was under the car when we went out.

It was the other car that had a leaking radiator that sprayed Andy and me !

Hydraulic lock is where a cylinder partially fills with fuel and then when the engine is cranked over to start it, instead of compressing just air, it trys to compress fuel (which it can't) and this causes a massive pressure spike that can damage a gasket/piston/bearing or even the wall of the block.

Andy

[Chris.Mcd]

I remember now, it was when we came back from the mapping that you told us about the puddle that was under the car when we went out.

It was the other car that had a leaking radiator that sprayed Andy and me !

Hydraulic lock is where a cylinder partially fills with fuel and then when the engine is cranked over to start it, instead of compressing just air, it trys to compress fuel (which it can't) and this causes a massive pressure spike that can damage a gasket/piston/bearing or even the wall of the block.

Andy

Doesnt sound good. Would there be any other symptons? (sp)

Although car is running totally fine apart from the overheating, I even drove the other day from Dundee to Edinburgh with no problems at all.

I have noticed the last few days that if I stay off boost it seems to be fine but even just a quick 10 sec blast the temp shoots right up.

Any ideas?

[andrew_forrest]

Sounds like a gasket.

Try this test (popular in drag racing set ups!)

Remove the pipe that runs from the engine coolant header tank to the overflow tank by the battery.

Temporarily run a bit of pipe from the engine header tank, under the bonnet to the front of the windscreen, then take it for a drive.

If when you give it boost, the pipe sprays all over the screen, its the gasket.

[Chris.Mcd]

Sounds like a gasket.

Try this test (popular in drag racing set ups!)

Remove the pipe that runs from the engine coolant header tank to the overflow tank by the battery.

Temporarily run a bit of pipe from the engine header tank, under the bonnet to the front of the windscreen, then take it for a drive.

If when you give it boost, the pipe sprays all over the screen, its the gasket.

Ok thanks.

Will try that tomorrow. If it does spray then is it defiantely the gasket? Because as I said earlier, its defiantely seems to be that the coolant is transferring from the header tank to the overflow tank by the battery because when it over heats there is nothing in the header tank and the overflow tank is full. Which i think will suggest that your test will spray coolant all over my screen!!!

Hope that makes sense lol

[jodie typeRA]

Ok thanks.

Will try that tomorrow. If it does spray then is it defiantely the gasket? Because as I said earlier, its defiantely seems to be that the coolant is transferring from the header tank to the overflow tank by the battery because when it over heats there is nothing in the header tank and the overflow tank is full. Which i think will suggest that your test will spray coolant all over my screen!!!

Hope that makes sense lol

same kinda thing happend to my mate wagon. it ended up being the head gasket..is there bubble coming to the top off the over flow bottle when the cars ticking over? (an other sign off a head gasket)

[AlanG]

When you go on boost you are creating a positive pressure within the cylinders. If the head gaskets gone, the boost will apply pressure to the coolant and hence force it out of the header tank to the overflow bottle.

[oz *sti*]

I had the same problem with my car about 3yrs ago, car was not over heating but when in boost coolant would come out of the expansion tank and when off boost there was nothing - with me it was the head gasket, sounds like the same for you........... every thing you have mentioned so far is pointing towards the head gaskets.

Alan.

[Chris.Mcd]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Looks like its the head gasket/s then :thumbup:

How much roughly am I speaking to get this done?

[drb5]

You handy with tools? You'd be able to do it in a few hours taking your time and it would prolly cost you a couple hundred quid. Getting a garage to do it......a few hundred quid upwards, depending on where you go.

On'y thing with doing it yourself, you may or may not get the head pressure tested for cracks etc. Most garages will do that.

Edited October 27, 2007 by drb5

[Chris.Mcd]

You handy with tools? You'd be able to do it in a few hours taking your time and it would prolly cost you a couple hundred quid. Getting a garage to do it......a few hundred quid upwards, depending on where you go.

On'y thing with doing it yourself, you may or may not get the head pressure tested for cracks etc. Most garages will do that.

Thanks bud. I am quite handy with tools yeah but saying that I think having never tackled a head gasket before then I would just leave it to a garage to do. Car booked in on Monday to get a second opinion about gasket than I can take it from then .