cooling woes

[weeds]

well you wouldn't believe i have had a major coolent loss over the last couple of days and i had only just recieved my low coolent alarm yesterday, if only i have brought it earlier and had it fitted

my defender is now parked up at MR automotive awaiting the outcome

the last couple of days my mechanical temp gauge has been moving around a bit more than normal, it kinda does from time to time due to the fact that it is sitting in the thermostat housing i.e. when the thermostat opening it gets a rush of differant temp water and the gauge moves around a bit till the temp settles

each day i checked the header tank while the engine was still running and there was always water so i thought all was good

i checked water level at lunch today when the engine temp was cold and had to put 5L of water into the system

one problem with having a mechanical temp gauge fitted in the thermostat housing is that when you loose water the temp gauge reads low not highmust remember that as there is no water flowing past it so it is only reading air temp

a low water alarm would have alerted me straight away

after filling with water i could not find a leak, temp gauge is still reading low though

i drove the rig to MR Auto stopping every 5km or so to check the water level

each time i looked into the header tank there was water moving through it, it appeared airated but was hard to tell

hoping i didn't kill the girl

thanks to justinc for taking my call today

[justinc]

well you wouldn't believe i have had a major coolent loss over the last couple of days and i had only just recieved my low coolent alarm yesterday, if only i have brought it earlier and had it fitted

my defender is now parked up at MR automotive awaiting the outcome

the last couple of days my mechanical temp gauge has been moving around a bit more than normal, it kinda does from time to time due to the fact that it is sitting in the thermostat housing i.e. when the thermostat opening it gets a rush of differant temp water and the gauge moves around a bit till the temp settles

each day i checked the header tank while the engine was still running and there was always water so i thought all was good

i checked water level at lunch today when the engine temp was cold and had to put 5L of water into the system

one problem with having a mechanical temp gauge fitted in the thermostat housing is that when you loose water the temp gauge reads low not highmust remember that as there is no water flowing past it so it is only reading air temp

a low water alarm would have alerted me straight away

after filling with water i could not find a leak, temp gauge is still reading low though

i drove the rig to MR Auto stopping every 5km or so to check the water level

each time i looked into the header tank there was water moving through it, it appeared airated but was hard to tell

hoping i didn't kill the girl

thanks to justinc for taking my call today

Sounds like a head leak to me Kelvin,

Did you try the cranking test?

JC

[ashman]

Hi Kelvin

Hope the old girl is OK, you have had a good run with her....

Ashley

[Captain_Rightfoot]

That's bad news weeds

The problem with those header tanks is that if their is a source of air inside the sealed system then they stop working and don't indicate anything

The beast is in the best hands though. Let us know how you go.

[weeds]

Sounds like a head leak to me Kelvin,

Did you try the cranking test?

JC

yep

cranked for a good 20 sec and the water level did not change

[weeds]

well if only i had of looked for the obvious........a broken hose clamp will do it

as soon as MR put the pressure tester on the system she sprung a leak.........good thing it was the top hose

now my mechanical temp gauge is not working it was a speco but i am going to buy a VDO this time round so that it will screw straight in where the old temp sender unit sits

i brought a new thermostat as well

[incisor]

good to see you made it out okay kelvin!

[justinc]

Excellent news!
Glad its only a hose clamp!

Funny how sometimes no external leaks are obvious

Pressure testers are a great tool.

JC

[scarry]

good to see it was easily sorted.

Another thing funny about coolant leaks is you often see them when the motor is stone cold ,& the system not pressurised.

This is an easy way to see them if you are a DIY & dont have a pressurizing thingy.

[awabbit6]

That's good news.
Reading the symptoms, I was inclined to agree with JustinC's suggestion of a head gasket.

A hose clamp is a much cheaper and easier problem to fix.


Paul