water probs

[swedge]

was out in the car tonight, was taking it easy with the snowy roads

turned the heaters on and it was cold

temp guage was nearly in the red

car had been running perfect since i bought it (2 days ago ) temp always sat at half way

pulled over and switched engine off and checked the header tank, had lots of pressure and the water came out when i undone the cap slowly

i topped it back up with water and let it run for a bit with the cap off, it ran fine for a bit with the ep just under half the i started bubbling up again and going down then back up

then the water went away quickyly, topped it up again and it done the same up and down

ive left it there for tonight as its freezing outside

i forgot to put the blowers on full when letting it run

please dont say its the headgasket only had it 2 days, could it just be an airlock?

its only a 1.0 headgasket easy enough to do on it? never done one on ths small an engine

you can also feel theair bubbles in the system when is running

[Annie]

sounds like maybe an air lock if water is going up & down, Did you give the top radiator hose a sqeeze while topping up to remove any trapped air?

is it leaking from waterpump? any white smoke from exhaust? My heaters are blowing luke warm when im driving but i think thats due to such cold condtions. when you re-filled with water did you add any antifreeze as its bloody cold tonite you dont want add to your problems.

Im sure the guys on here will give you the symtoms if your headgasket has gone.

[swedge]

yeah i was squeezing the hose, the big hose from the water pump took a while to fill up

i hpe it is an air lock, it was 1am and i was in a little town so had no anti freeze with me so i could only put water in, it dis have anti freeze in before it though so it wasnt frozen

my heaters worked fine before this happened

[swedge]

are there any bleed screws?

[Welsh Dan]

The system is self bleeding. Just keep it running with the header tank cap off until the coolant is at the line in the tank and the fan has kicked in for a few minutes. If you're worried about the headgasket, check the dipstick and oil filler cap for mayo, and run a compression test on the cylinders.

[swedge]

yeah ill check the oil cap,

when i was filling it up last night it just kept bubbling up and down he finally disaperaing down the pipe

im guessing ill just keep doing that untill its fine

[John]

The system is self bleeding. Just keep it running with the header tank cap off until the coolant is at the line in the tank and the fan has kicked in for a few minutes. If you're worried about the headgasket, check the dipstick and oil filler cap for mayo, and run a compression test on the cylinders.

Dan is correct, the system is self bleed. However head gaskets can fail in more ways than simply mayoing the oil cap. Oil and water will only mix if the gasket goes between a water and oil way. It sounds to me like the gasket has gone, between a cylinder and a water gallery. easiest way to check imo is to carry out a block test (changes colour when combustion gases are present in the cooiling system)

[comptoncj]

Definatly sounds like Head gasket issues to me. Do what John H said get a tester to make sure.

[John]

1.0 haed gasket is a simple job for a diyer imo. No cambelt to mess with!

[Pistol Pete]

And remember to top up with A/F aswell. Just water could freeze in the current temperatures!