Thread: This is starting to drive me nuts

have you changed the expansion tank cap?

yes did that as well!!!!

Is it actually over-heating, or is the temp gauge saying that it's cooking? Reason I ask is that it is common for earth problems with regards to the gauge.

Does it over-heat on the highway or in town? Reason for this is if it's in town (or standstill) and not on the highway, I'd be looking at your viscous centre of the fan.

Has it been bled properly of air? Procedure is to undo the plug on/near the thermostat (highest point) and fill the system through the expansion tank. When the coolant starts running out, put the plug back in. Slightly overfill the expansion tank leaving the cap off. Then jump in the vehicle, put your heater on flat out. Start the vehicle and top up the expansion tank if necessary.

Is it actually circulating the coolant? Looking at the pump, and it's normally not the case. But it could be ......


Something from left of field - is the engine labouring for any reason. Another words is there any problems with bearings on the fan belt, timing out, tappets adjusted correctly etc. Sometimes the load on the vehicle can cause over-heating issues - when in fact it's the by-product of the real problem.

Hope this helps slightly.

Cheers
Chris

if you faced the head did you get it rehardened?

what toqruing technique did you use on the head bolts? wet or dry?

what did you do about the thermostat?

BlKnight,

I think dry, But torqued as required by the book. I replaced the thermostat with a new one

There will be a fair difference in the head bolt stretch if the bolts were done dry, as opposed to oiled as per the book.

How much was skimmed off the head?

What caused the original over heat - how hot did it get?

Not that hot. The head was checked over and pressure tested. The machine shop is one of the best in SA. Do you think that the problem is the dry head bolts? The sytem will not pressurise until I push the engine hard.

Difficult to say. It could be (I wonder what the difference in load applied would be - the book states explicitly to oil under the heads and the threads). The TD5 runs quite a high pressure in the water system, and these issues do generally become apparent when driving hard (load / hills etc)

The fact it only does it when your drive it hard isn't a good sign, and would to my mind indicate a pressure leak at the head gasket

Your not overfilling the headertank are you? mine runs about an inch below the mark.

Rgds
Pete.