BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
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hey, i filled my engines coolant level up to the arrow yesterday as i was going on a long drive to a festival. when i got there however i got held up in traffic, and then my engine started overheating then smoking. I left it for a while then had a look at the coolant level to find there wasnt any? i didnt rag the car at all on the way there. on the way home it was ok altho i kept the car going and didnt let it stand still, and also forgot to put the coolant cap back on (was on on the way there), what kind of difference wud that have made? There is no leak that i am aware of (looked while revving the engine), so i'm wondering if a gasket has gone? someone said something about the thermostat not working? was just wondering about what i got to do and the price? can anyone help? I checked the fan kicks in and it does (kicked in at 95 and stopped at 90). the water level held last night and today. The engine also makes a noise from 2000 to 3000 revs, mainloy in fifth gear where its doin more work, sounds like its mis-firing or something is shaking but cant see nothing loose and performance seems ok! can anyone help?!?
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Cursa
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Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Dumfries & Galloway
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My performance was fine when my gasket went on my 1.4 16V. Not much change from £700 for the repair by Vauxhall. (this included a service, cam belt, water pump, head skimming and a new tyre.) Since you have an 8V you could maybe do it yourself, although it'll be cheaper than mine anyway if done by vaux! Cos you probably won't have air con either, its all gotta be drained.
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BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
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think an engine conversion wud be cheaper !! hope mines not as serious as that!
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PaulW
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Registered: 26th Jan 03
Location: Atherton, Greater Manchester
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It cost me about £70 to sort mine out when it blew, included new head gasget kit (new valve seals, oil seals, etc..., inc head skimmed, parts, new head bolts, etc... on a 1.4 8v, easy to do aswell, unlike the 16 valvers
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Cursa
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Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Dumfries & Galloway
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As i say, the 8V's are a lot simpler to work on, so less labour time, and you could always take the risk and tell them not to replace the water pump/timing belt/skim the head. Or you could order the parts from halfords and do the whole lot yourself in a day for probably less than a hundred quid.
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Cursa
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Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Dumfries & Galloway
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Cheers paul, im a slow typer.
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miles
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Registered: 25th Mar 02
Location: plymouth Drives: Astra Sport
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When you say there was smoke do you mean steam from under the bonnet? Or from the exhaust?
Do you mean you left the water filler cap off and then lost the water? If so Its not rocket science as to where the water went.
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BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
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think it was steam. no the cap was left off when we filled it up on the way back. the water was left on the way there
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BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
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also ive had someone to look at the noise and he rekons its cos the air and fuel mixture aint right and i shud set it up on a rolling road, kinda makes sense since its only really started happening a couple of weeks after fitting my induction kit n back box
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Kenni
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Registered: 29th Jan 01
Location: Worcester(sauce) Drives: VX220 & Zaffy GSi
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Why did you leave your cap off after filling it up on the way back??
And how do you alter the AIR/FUEL mixture on a rolling road, this is automaticaly done by your ECU and cant be TUNED, unless you have carbs or a chip??
[Edited on 03-06-2003 by Kenni]
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miles
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Registered: 25th Mar 02
Location: plymouth Drives: Astra Sport
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Hows the mixture going to make you lose water?
Where was the steam coming from?
Without the cap on the there is no pressure in the system, so it wont force its way out.
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Cursa
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Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Dumfries & Galloway
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Its probably happened since fitting your induction kit and back box cos you've been revving the tits off it to get the noises! Having said that, the gasket was probably on its way out, and you've just killed it. You've definitely got a cooling problem, nothing to do with your mixture. I would doubt the thermostat was at fault either, as this would *stop* the water coming through, so you would have boiled the water in the block, but you wouldnt have lost much! Unless you mean the fan thermostat, in which case the engine would have got hot, but if your gasket was fine, you wouldn't have lost any water, assuming there were no other leaks, but you say your fan was fine.
To see if your gasket is definitely buggered, try this:
Remove all your spark plugs, compare the one furthest from the radiator to all the rest... if it's much different, your gaskets gone (the gasket will fail here first since it gets hottest here, being furthest from the radiator.)
OR:
Start up the engine with the water full, and get a mate to rev it while you look into the water tank. If you see any bubbles, there's air in the system and you need a new gasket.
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BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
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quote:
Originally posted by Kenni
Why did you leave your cap off after filling it up on the way back??
And how do you alter the AIR/FUEL mixture on a rolling road, this is automaticaly done by your ECU and cant be TUNED, unless you have carbs or a chip??
[Edited on 03-06-2003 by Kenni]
didnt mean too we got distracted at the time, luckily only fell down on to the gearbox, made fifth real hard to get into tho! was real pissed off -thought the gearbox was goin too! also didnt think about that, might have to get a mappable ecu?
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BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
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quote:
Originally posted by miles
Hows the mixture going to make you lose water?
Where was the steam coming from?
Without the cap on the there is no pressure in the system, so it wont force its way out.
duno where the steam was commin from shud have looked when it was hot but i stupidly let it cool down first. i thought the mixture being run wud make the engine run hotter than usual and thats why but dont think so now!
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BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Cursa
Its probably happened since fitting your induction kit and back box cos you've been revving the tits off it to get the noises! Having said that, the gasket was probably on its way out, and you've just killed it. You've definitely got a cooling problem, nothing to do with your mixture. I would doubt the thermostat was at fault either, as this would *stop* the water coming through, so you would have boiled the water in the block, but you wouldnt have lost much! Unless you mean the fan thermostat, in which case the engine would have got hot, but if your gasket was fine, you wouldn't have lost any water, assuming there were no other leaks, but you say your fan was fine.
To see if your gasket is definitely buggered, try this:
Remove all your spark plugs, compare the one furthest from the radiator to all the rest... if it's much different, your gaskets gone (the gasket will fail here first since it gets hottest here, being furthest from the radiator.)
OR:
Start up the engine with the water full, and get a mate to rev it while you look into the water tank. If you see any bubbles, there's air in the system and you need a new gasket.
k cheers i'll try that. i was revving the engine after work yesterday to get it hot and the tube going into the tank had loads of bubbles goin though it so i take it it is the head gasket gone? theres no signs of mayonnaise substance by the oil filler cap tho
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Black Corsa SRi
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Registered: 25th May 02
Location: ---Stockport---- Drives: Pug 206 Roland Garros
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quote:
Originally posted by Sethion33
hey, i filled my engines coolant level up to the arrow yesterday as i was going on a long drive to a festival. when i got there however i got held up in traffic, and then my engine started overheating then smoking. I left it for a while then had a look at the coolant level to find there wasnt any? i didnt rag the car at all on the way there. on the way home it was ok altho i kept the car going and didnt let it stand still, and also forgot to put the coolant cap back on (was on on the way there), what kind of difference wud that have made? There is no leak that i am aware of (looked while revving the engine), so i'm wondering if a gasket has gone? someone said something about the thermostat not working? was just wondering about what i got to do and the price? can anyone help? I checked the fan kicks in and it does (kicked in at 95 and stopped at 90). the water level held last night and today. The engine also makes a noise from 2000 to 3000 revs, mainloy in fifth gear where its doin more work, sounds like its mis-firing or something is shaking but cant see nothing loose and performance seems ok! can anyone help?!?
I've got a 16v SRi but I had the same problem as u. A day after filling up the coolant. This was about a year and 2 months ago or something. I could never find out why this happened or why the cooling fan didnt stop it etc etc but i just filled it all back up again and i've not had a prob since (touch wood :lol and my cars covered over 25,000 miles since then! I'm wondering if maybe i causesd some sort of air lock or somethng when i changed the coolant, and it all just evapaorated into steam or something. Also dont forget there could hae been coolant u couldnt see in the radiator and pipes etc and the expansion tank could still have been empty. I've changed the coolant again, since then and not had a problem! It worried me for a while but i've just put it down to one of those things. My cars been serviced and checked etc a number of times since then and i've been stuck in traffic for over an hour with the cooling fan etc coming on all the time and not overheated since! Seems to have been a one off!
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BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
User status: Offline
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weird cos mines been ok so far lets hope so! altho my engine is still making an incorrect firing sound u just signed up to corsa crazy black corsa sri?
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Black Corsa SRi
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Registered: 25th May 02
Location: ---Stockport---- Drives: Pug 206 Roland Garros
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LOL yeah i have actually although not been back since someone off here just gave me a link to some pics on the site so i signed up while i was there. Will have to take antohe look! Oh BTW one difference is i didnt get any incorrect fireing or anything!
[Edited on 03-06-2003 by Black Corsa SRi]
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miles
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Registered: 25th Mar 02
Location: plymouth Drives: Astra Sport
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Sethion33
might have to get a mappable ecu?
Erm, why?
It might not be head gasket, it could be inlet manifold or a leak from anywhere else........
I think that plug removal/checking method is useless.
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Jatinder
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Registered: 17th May 03
Location: Clayhall Essex
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could be your gasket gone it could be letting air in under hard load or sumthing not sure, is your water colour funny?
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Cursa
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Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Dumfries & Galloway
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You rarely get the mayonaise in the oil because the oil is at much higher pressure than the water, hence you are more likely to find the water a funny colour as Jatinder said.
The water and oil mixing would mean that the gasket is failing between a water hole and an oil hole, mine failed between a water hole and a cylinder, so the water was just getting burned, there was no opportunity for the water and oil to mix.
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BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by miles
quote:
Originally posted by Sethion33
might have to get a mappable ecu?
Erm, why? because the cars cant be tuned any other way? or so i was told?
It might not be head gasket, it could be inlet manifold or a leak from anywhere else........
I think that plug removal/checking method is useless.
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BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
User status: Offline
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well i checked yesterday and there was no mayonnaise stuff, checked today and the caps absolutely plastered innit, time for a new head gasket is it safe to drive at all?
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Stu_22
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Registered: 25th Mar 02
Location: Luton
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Your oil will be getting worse and worse and you risk warping the cylinder head if it gets to hot
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