coolent vanishing?!?! erm......

[novaguy08]

Right, before anyone mentions the head gasket there is no overheating, no rough running, no smoke (other then a little vapour at startup), no mayo absolutly no symptoms of a head gasket failure!

However my coolent is slowly going down, i can hear the sounds of air running through the system from the heater matrix, however the pipes stay pressurized?!?

Im lost and so is my coolent, i cant see a leak, i have tried to bleed the system, please tell me someone knows or has an inkling on whats going on!!

Its a C12NZ, water pump ok, and thermostat stuck open

[Spudly]

Well for a start off you need your stat doing as this could be a causal factor as ive just had mine done and it seemed to be causing the system to pressure up and water was escaping from the tiniest little leak on the top rad hose, so this could be your problem other wise id say you have a pinhole somewhere which as the water/pipes heat up and expand is allowing your coolant to escape when at running temp, take it for a drive or leave it ticking over to get really hot (i.e. let the cooling fan kick in) then turn off and have a nosey round for sounds of hissing or just look for water escaping from jubilee clips/pipes/rad anywhere you can and chances are you will find a leak somewhere!

[novaguy08]

i did this recently, when i noticed the coolent start going down, there was nothing! no hissing, no water puddles on the floor, no drips, nothing! Im changing the stat soon as i can,the top rad hose aint leaking, well any more anyway, i sealed it up with some non sealing gasket sealer as nothing i could do with it dry was working!!

[Graeme]

i did this recently, when i noticed the coolent start going down, there was nothing! no hissing, no water puddles on the floor, no drips, nothing! Im changing the stat soon as i can,the top rad hose aint leaking, well any more anyway, i sealed it up with some non sealing gasket sealer as nothing i could do with it dry was working!!

Ive never seen this for sale, where did you get it? Are there any benefits to using a non sealing sealer?

[Ben]

Could still be the headgasket, you only get oil in the water if the gasket has gone through an oilway, could be very slightly gone and just losing the fluid at the moment.

I would check your matrix though as these are quite common on cars as old as nova's.

[Spudly]

If your top hose is leaking then it will have limescale and other crap forming between the pipe and the sleeve it fits onto, you want your hose removing and the sleeve cleaning up so it has a nice fresh flat mating surface to seal to.

Btw what it non-sealing sealer?

[Ben]

Btw what it non-sealing sealer?

about as much use as non stick glue?

[novaguy08]

its a typo......... thats what non sealing sealant! was supposed to be setting............ ok ok back to the vanishing collent please! I checked the top rad hose a lil while ago, the only signs of a leak are there from the previous one, the brown orrible ****e left behind on the engine mount!

Im a bit concerned by the thoughts of a head gasket, ill get a sniff test done and see if there is any CO in there.......... stuck my nose in the expansion tank again a moment ago.... still the same awfull smelling but no petrol in there! im also confused at how the head gasket could be causing the water to get into a cylinder and there not be any running problems or smoke/steam coming from the exhaust! (well past a cold start anywho)

[Ben]

all depends on how quickly its disapearing, as said could be the very early stages, sling a k seal in there and see what happens.

[Ben]

and just a note a headgasket on one of these engines is a couple of hours work, no big issue.

[burgo]

head gasket!!!! no really. mine had no symptoms other than the water system pressuring up. still ran sweet, no smoke and no mayo but the head gasket had gone.

[mowgli]

its a typo......... thats what non sealing sealant! was supposed to be setting............ ok ok back to the vanishing collent please! I checked the top rad hose a lil while ago, the only signs of a leak are there from the previous one, the brown orrible ****e left behind on the engine mount!

Im a bit concerned by the thoughts of a head gasket, ill get a sniff test done and see if there is any CO in there.......... stuck my nose in the expansion tank again a moment ago.... still the same awfull smelling but no petrol in there! im also confused at how the head gasket could be causing the water to get into a cylinder and there not be any running problems or smoke/steam coming from the exhaust! (well past a cold start anywho)

because it gets blown straight out of a hot exhaust in minute amounts so small that you won't see them. think about this, it probably takes about 2 hrs of running before you notice any sizeable coolant loss., ie 1/2 litre. in 2 hrs, the engine has turned about 360000 times. thats 0.00139cc's per revolution. or about the same as a gnat wee's

[novaguy08]

ben i know that the head gasket is no biggie, but i dont wanna be spending more money i aint got on a gasket set & probs having several exhast studs helicoiled out!
its not going THAT fast, about half a tank in a month or so

[Ben]

but how far you drive in a month lol, if you only do 5 miles a week thats a lot lol

[burgo]

ill place a bet now. i bet that when you take the head off No4 cylinder will have less carbon build up

[mowgli]

ben i know that the head gasket is no biggie, but i dont wanna be spending more money i aint got on a gasket set & probs having several exhast studs helicoiled out!
its not going THAT fast, about half a tank in a month or so

but you don't need to remove the manifolds to do a head gasket.

a head set & bolts is about £30. a garage will charge much more for a sniff test!!!

just go to a proper old school motor factors & ask for a bars 'dog sh1t' water leak fix ... it really looks like one & it blocks up all sorts of tiny holes. all straight 6 jag engines had them in the factory...

[Ben]

head bolts are good for 3 goes lol

£4 for a gasket and bobs your uncle!

[AlexW]

If its not the matrix i would say HG aswell.

My old one ran great, no funny oil and due to having to top up the water there wasnt much(if any) oil in there.

If you want to do it all correctly (cambelt, water pump, bolts and a skim) would cost about £70 iirc.

[John]

head gasket!

[novaguy08]

Right, head gasket,(cock!) I got no idea on the history of the engine tbh so ill be using new head bolts, i drive 2-300miles a week, which considering im unemployed is quite a bit tbh!! But still, if im doing the head gasket ill change the valve stem seals and probs the valve guides too, i would give the head a quick recon too to make sure that i would get some of the power back thats been lost. good news is the belt was done 6 months ago so its not needed! new pump & depending on the condition of the head i might get it skimmed.
Oh crap i was hoping that i wouldnt need to do this before i changed the engine!!

[Ben]

just sling a e16se in be cheaper and easier!

[novaguy08]

so i can go buy myself an E16SE gearbox, loom shafts ectect and my anual insurance would total less then changing a head gasket?

[Joe Richardson]

preesure test the system,can get kit's nowadays:thumb:

[novaguy08]

hmmmmmm might do that actually,

[Ben]

so i can go buy myself an E16SE gearbox, loom shafts ectect and my anual insurance would total less then changing a head gasket?

Yep

[novaguy08]

Yep#

So i can do all that for £50 or so notes then?

Bloody hell where do you get your engines from! not bein funny mate but in order for me to get all that for less then a headgasket kit and skim then i would have to pull some serious string with my mates inthe motor trade to get a whole car for that & then i would need to spend money on parts (oil filter belts ect ect!) tbh i would end up spending 3 times that on an E16SE engine & get it running!

Anywho i want to use C16XE!! which is more expencive!!

[Ben]

easy i can do an engine conversion including all required bits and earn £500+ as well!

[novaguy08]

easy yes cost effective no........... cant afford to do a conversion yet, will have to make sure that she runs till i can and find the right car........... however that might be quite soon!!

[Ben]

cost effective? earning money and getting better engine!

[novaguy08]

how am i going to earn money doing an engine conversion on my own car? the only way i could earn money out of that is by selling my engine, which is pretty much worthless

[mowgli]

you can't be that hard up if you are doing 200-300 miles a week.........

don't the unemployed get free travel cards???

what is your trade?

[novaguy08]

no they dont, unfortunatly im not well off, im quite lucky that my missus works and the little 1.2 doesnt take up much petrol!! 2-300 miles works out at about a tank or so
mechanic