Thread: Coolant bubbling out of expansion tank D1 V8

Originally Posted by 4bee

....


For AK83.

While I was out, I purchased an 800g bottle of 'Dunlop Ready to Go Coloured Tile Grout' (Misty Grey 441) & when I opened the lid to check the contents they looked identical to the mess that was in your Sump. Honestly. But really, you can't imagine anyone, however inept using this stuff as a leak repair. But hey, who knows!

No idea what the goop was, looked 'foamy', and when wet had a slightly spongy feel, but consistency of a fibre material.
When dried tho, it was like dried up blobs of paper.
None of it looks to have got through the rad and into the engine, where I think they wanted it to get too.

For my V8(D2) tho it was all a bit too late. I had a nagging feeling it was a liner or block crack(either way the same terminal condition), but when I pulled the rad and had it sitting for an hour as a heat soak test, it the new rad made a big difference.
The a quick trip around the block showed coolant rise to 90 and then drop to 87 .. and I was thinking woohoo.
So booked in a RWC inspection and headed off next day ... an hour into the drive and I killed the engine ... in totality.
it ran fine up to the point of exhaustion, heated up in a few seconds and I pushed it bit too far past that point.
So I reckon it must have had a crack in the block/liner.
Previous owners did a lot of weirdo mods to the cooling system in addition to this foamy/papery goop found in the rad.

ps. on mine I also did dry compression test and found just two cyls a wee bit down(115) compared to the others at 120-130.

Now I am hesitant to tighten down all the others just in case I stuff things up & blame Phillip A.

He said something about the bolt head not having a seal on it. Was he taking the Mick or do they & where?

If the mechanic was talking an inlet manifold bolt, then there is no seal. In fact there are no seals or penguins on any head bolt of an RV8.
The water passage is sealed by a tin gasket with a raised portion around the hole. This part of the whole valley gasket. Just Google Rover V8 valley gasket if you want to see it. If the bolt is not at specified torque then they can and will leak. I used to add some sealant around the water passage holes.

Because the Rover heads are interchangeable right to left , there is a water passage at the front and back of each head. The back one on the LH is blanked off by the manifold and goes nowhere. It is common to leak there also. same with RH. The 2-3 rear bolts block it off, and you will see a flat portion on the manifold.

If you check the tightness of all the bolts and don't go berserk with the torque then you will do no damage. Only torque to the value in RAVE.
regards Philip A

Thank you Phillip, got it. Blimey, so much to see.

Maybe I should have gone for the simple 2.25 out of my S2A although fuel consumption in a 2 tonne vehicle may have been a problem not to mention pulling power.

Originally Posted by AK83

No idea what the goop was, looked 'foamy', and when wet had a slightly spongy feel, but consistency of a fibre material.
When dried tho, it was like dried up blobs of paper.
None of it looks to have got through the rad and into the engine, where I think they wanted it to get too.

For my V8(D2) tho it was all a bit too late. I had a nagging feeling it was a liner or block crack(either way the same terminal condition), but when I pulled the rad and had it sitting for an hour as a heat soak test, it the new rad made a big difference.
The a quick trip around the block showed coolant rise to 90 and then drop to 87 .. and I was thinking woohoo.
So booked in a RWC inspection and headed off next day ... an hour into the drive and I killed the engine ... in totality.
it ran fine up to the point of exhaustion, heated up in a few seconds and I pushed it bit too far past that point.
So I reckon it must have had a crack in the block/liner.
Previous owners did a lot of weirdo mods to the cooling system in addition to this foamy/papery goop found in the rad.

ps. on mine I also did dry compression test and found just two cyls a wee bit down(115) compared to the others at 120-130.

Further to your bad experience I decanted some of my Gloop onto the back of a tile as a test piece & it certainly wasn't as you described yours, well wet, it may have been but not dry. Being a Grout it contains fine sand & let dry, it was as a grout should be. Didn't check it when it was constantly wet as I don't have enough to muck around with so can't comment on that but visually it certainly looked the same or very similar. I guess we will never know but suffice to say you got it fixed one way or another & that is the main thing.

Happy trails.

Originally Posted by 4bee

Well that would have sorted his problem but I don't intend to go down that path for a fix if I can help it.

A belated thanks for this opinion Jilden.

Would you please mind elaborating on your method? By "bleed hose" are you talking about the small hose coming from the Rad top to the tank & entering underneath?

Mine doesn't seem to be displacing coolant from the tank that I can notice, it just disappears presumably to the engine block/heads I guess, but I see no visible exterior signs of that.

Any "Magic Formulas" to seal the block/head leakage off? I realise most are probably rubbish but one never knows unless one asks. A couple of bags of ready to mix concrete perchance? It worked for me to seal a leaking 3" rusted water main here. A bit like Chernobyl, case it in concrete.

I used chemiweld on a Jag a couple of times. Worked well, lasted at least three years. Make sure you pull the spark plug out of the affected cylinder and let it idle as per instructions.

Well another hot day with the A.C on has made it happen again, not as extreme but still bubbled out some.
Im starting to think it has a lot to do with my D2 clutch fan, it either engages later than the D1 or its on its way out. It still engages at startup but I rarely hear it otherwise.
If anyone knows whether they engage at the same time or not that would be great.
In the meantime im going to adjust the spring, im pretty sure I have to loosen (open) the spring to make it engage earlier. Does any know if that's correct?
Cheers Jim

Originally Posted by LRJim

Well another hot day with the A.C on has made it happen again, not as extreme but still bubbled out some.
Im starting to think it has a lot to do with my D2 clutch fan, it either engages later than the D1 or its on its way out. It still engages at startup but I rarely hear it otherwise.
If anyone knows whether they engage at the same time or not that would be great.
In the meantime im going to adjust the spring, im pretty sure I have to loosen (open) the spring to make it engage earlier. Does any know if that's correct?
Cheers Jim

I used to mod Holden viscous fan clutches, a 3mm rebend to open the spring dropped the fan cut in temp by around 10 degrees. If in doubt, hit your spring with a small blow torch, you'll soon see which way it needs to move.

Originally Posted by bee utey

I used to mod Holden viscous fan clutches, a 3mm rebend to open the spring dropped the fan cut in temp by around 10 degrees. If in doubt, hit your spring with a small blow torch, you'll soon see which way it needs to move.

Thanks very much, I have a feeling you turn it the same direction as the coil is going so you open it. I'll probably have to pull it out to work on so ill test it to be sure.
Cheers Jim