Coolant loss (740)

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piltdown - 30 Aug 2004 21:28 GMT

The other day I was surprised to see the coolant reservoir empty - with no
obvious leaks. I refilled the reservoir and drove for about 3 miles and
stopped to have a look at the level and water was being forced out of the
coolant reservoir cap. A further drive of around 10 miles and the reservoir
was totally empty. The temperature gauge allways read "normal".

Is this simply the case of a faulty reservoir cap? Or is it a symptom of the
head gasket u/s?

Thanks

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Stewart Hargrave - 30 Aug 2004 23:03 GMT

>The other day I was surprised to see the coolant reservoir empty - with no
>obvious leaks. I refilled the reservoir and drove for about 3 miles and
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>Is this simply the case of a faulty reservoir cap? Or is it a symptom of the
>head gasket u/s?

That does sound suspiciously like a head gasket problem. It's not
unusual on these engines (it happened to mine), but not too much of a
major problem to put right. With the engine fully warmed up, the
radiator hoses should be squeezable under moderate thumb pressure. If
they are tight like a drum, the cooling system is over pressurising;
number one suspect is the head gasket.

If you are handy with a spanner, and have a torque wrench, it's a few
hours to a day's work (may be two, if you have not done one before),
but you need to get the head checked for distortion, and have it
skimmed if necessary (if it's only slight, it is posible to dress the
head on a surface plate with some emery, but this can be a lot of hard
work).

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Mike F - 31 Aug 2004 13:52 GMT

> The other day I was surprised to see the coolant reservoir empty - with no
> obvious leaks. I refilled the reservoir and drove for about 3 miles and
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Thanks

Sorry, sound like head gasket (or other such leak into cooling system
from combustion chamber.)

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

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~^ beancounter ~^ - 31 Aug 2004 20:29 GMT

it may be a water pump problem also...don't let
the motor get too hot...

> > The other day I was surprised to see the coolant reservoir empty - with no
> > obvious leaks. I refilled the reservoir and drove for about 3 miles and
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> Sorry, sound like head gasket (or other such leak into cooling system
> from combustion chamber.)

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