Running very hot???

[(John_16v)]

Alrite folks, 1st post on this, been reading here for a while and now need some info for myself. Basically I have a 2.0 16v red top in my nova, the water (header bottle) under the bonnet is cracking from the pressure thats building up in it because of the boiling water in it after a run in the car. Its pretty weird this bottle has the normal 2 pipes (1 going into the bottle and 1 going out to the radiator. This is normal aye, like my 1st valver nova. Only this one has another thin pipe bored into it that comes from the back of the head ish place that gives a constant feed of water to the bottle when car is running???? I can hear pressure coming out the bottle when I pull up and when I slacken off you know what happens. Bubbling/boiling water fires out wi a vengence.

Any ideas as to problem and how to repair would be appreciated
Cheers in advance

John

[Adam]

Could be a head gasket on its way out, which is pressurizing the whole system.
Has the coolant been going down quickly, which would explain overheating of your engine.

[Gazza14SR]

I know nothing about 2.0l novas but ive had a similar problem with my gsi recently,

Try replacing the header tank cap as there is a breather on the other side of it. Mine was blocked and causing the pipe that comes out of the head to the radiator to blow up like a baloon.

Check the radiator is working also and flush the system.

[novax]

Sounds like a good idea. I'd fit a new cap then rad flush the thing, go for a drive. dump it, flush it, dump it again. If it's still overheating then the head gasket is looking likely.

[(John_16v)]

I personally think the head gasket is the problem, if it is how much is should I expect as a bill from a garage to repair this properly.
Also when I look into this bottle at the water, theirs little tide marks with little black flakes all around the edges of the water????

[Gazza14SR]

I'd still change the cap first mate.

When i had the problem i was getting brown merky sludge in the header tank and afew told me that that was the headgasket as oil was mixing with the water.

But, once i'd change the pipe & the cap and flushed the system through its been nearly 3 weeks and theres no sludge and its been running fine.

Have no idea how much a garage would cost to do a head gasket on a 2.0l

http://uploader.co.uk/images/image122.jpg

This is what was happening on mine cuz of the blocked header cap.

[Snowface]

is ur red top a coscast head?

[_JH_]

change your thermostat also.

[(John_16v)]

Yeah its a Coscast. Going to check the thermostat tomorrow and hoping its just that thats seized and in need of replacing. dont really fancy paying for new head gasket. Cheers for the answers

[Ste_Nova]

never take the cap off this just causes it to boil over