Nearly Boiled Over

[Al Milton]

Pacet fan fitted, took a fair bit of fettling with the rad out, but what a difference!!

The temperature is controlling around 90-95 on the gauge with the fan cutting in and out several times on tickover. :yahoo:

 

Also tested the coolant for exhaust gases, thankfully the dye stayed blue so am confident the head gasket is sound! Quick and easy test, thanks again Nigel

Will check coolant level to see whether any has been 'expelled' once it cools down, but there wasn't any evidence while the engine was running.

 

But, I borrowed an infra red thermometer and checked the manifold temperatures with the engine at 'normal' temperature and all from a similar distance.

Cylinder 1 was at 185 degrees, cylinder 2 was at 260, cyclinder 3 was at 220 and cylinder 5 was 240. I doubt this is normal so will ring Richard tomorrow and also update him with the test results

 

Thanks everyone with hints and suggestions and offers of kit (& engines!!)

[Al Milton]

Feel a bit daft, but my manifold was ceramic coated and this variation is probably caused by varying thickness of the coating!

Tha engine idles smoothly with no lumpiness etc which would be evident if an injector was sticking!

[philshelton]

 

Cylinder 1 was at 185 degrees, cylinder 2 was at 260, cyclinder 3 was at 220 and cylinder 5 was 240. I doubt this is normal so will ring Richard tomorrow and also update him with the test results

 

1,2.3 and 5 what happened to 4 or is it wishful thinking

[Al Milton]

Numbers were never my strong point!!

[Al Milton]

Just over 100 miles in all sorts of traffic today (traffic ranging from none on A Roads to crawling through Canterbury city), not a hint of boilling, temp was a maximum of just over 90 on the gauge before dropping back to around 85 :yahoo: with no loss of coolant either!!

 

Now have a really suspicious smell of petrol from the rear of the car, couldn't see anything obvious, ah well, one step forwards and all that......

[Guest paisesmediterraneos]

Hello, I would like to check my coolant with the blue fluid, but my 2B has no expansion tank to check it, do you know how can I do it??.

 

Thanks a lot, David.

[Al Milton]

David,

 

Place some of the dye fluid in a smaller container (this saves some for next time).

 

Draw some coolant from your system by either draining some or removing by siphoning off using a syringe).

 

Then place the coolant into the dye and hope it doesn't change colour!

 

I don't know if the coolant need to be warm, if it does take care.

 

Hope this helps

Al

[Guest grimbo]

Hi Al do you have the spec for the fan you fitted max cfm ect

 

thanks grimbo

[Al Milton]

I've fitted the 13" Profan (bigger motor), details here:

 

http://www.pacet.co.uk/13inchpacets.php

 

It does shift some serious air!

[Bob Tucker]

If its blowing backwards, it should add at least 5mph!!!

Bob

[Al Milton]

I could have the first turbine powered 7 Bob, it does blow a fair amount of wind backwards!!

 

(Or is that me??)

 

:D

[Guest mower man]

Have you got enough venting to get rid of all the air that fan will be moving ? it needs to get out as well as getting in .just athought not a get at mower man

[Al Milton]

Bonnet has got several large vents in the top and you can also feel a mini gale at the back and sides of the car (on the outside) coming from underneath.

Good ask though Mick

[Guest Big T]

Hi All, might be a little late with this reply but only just joined this forum and hope the following experience may be of help to someone out there.

 

I have had an on-going issue with my GBS Zero running between 100 - 120 deg whist in traffic and under heavy use. Always loosing coolant and no apparent answer. My mate had exactly the same issue so not in isolation. I am running a 2.0 Zetec with the GBS water rail system. Reached out to Richard at GBS on numerous occasions and nothing which solved the issue. drilled a 6mm hole in the stat but no better. Then decided to purchase a new cap with a bleed valve (ebay number 280901639255).

 

Result immediate cure on both vehicles and no further issues.........One significant thing to note is that this new cap has a nice rubber seal, however the Stant cap in the GBS water rail kits had no rubber seal and it was suggested to seal the cap with instant gasket!!

 

Hope this helps

[Al Milton]

Was still losing coolant (albeit a little), even though the temperature was stable and being cooled by the mega fan.

 

The system on my car has 2 radiator caps, one on the rad and one on the GBS water rail. Fitted seals to the caps and this stopped coolant being lost around the cap (as opposed to through the overflow), although there was still the minor loss from the overflow.

 

Have fitted a plastic expansion tank from CBS to catch the coolant (thanks for the heads up Bob). But the engine filled this up last Saturday afternoon while out for a little drive, capacity of this tank is 1.5 litres! Nothing was being drawn back into the cooling system while the engine etc was cooling down (via vacuum caused by hot coolant contracting in a sealed system).

 

So looked at the cap on the rad. I thought that maybe air is being drawn through this cap, bypassing the expansion tank. So located and fitted a 20lb cap to rad yesterday (have kept the 15lb cap on the water rail). Ran the car up and no coolant weas observed flowing into the expansion bottle, (it would have usually done this just before the fan first kicked in).

I kept the car running for 30mins or so, and there was no coolant loss into the expansion tank. I let the car cool down for a couple of hours, and the coolant level was still the same!!!

 

So it looks like the coolant loss was caused by a 15lb cap on the radiator letting air in. I now have a engine that not only can maintain it's engine temperature but also hold on to it's coolant!!

Early days yet and miles will prove this theory, but the indication is that the problem has been put to bed at long last