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head gasket
Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:20 pm
by gregT
hi, i just wanted to find out before i take the head off to possibly replace the head gasket. when i took my car a drive the water pipe by the thermostats clamp didnt have the screw in it so it looked like it was clamped on but found the water was leaking through the pipe. now when i drive the water in the radiator and water bottle is bubbling and over filling. do i need to change the head gasket or could it be any other reason. i have checked for water in the oil but it seems alright but not sure as it is new oil and the colour isnt the easiest to see. the compression might be alright cause i was driving and it felt fine. we had antifreeze and water together. could that be a problem or could it be the thermostat. any help will be greatly appreciated. this post is long so i not going to mnread through it again so if there are mistakes please forgive me.
thanks again
Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:46 pm
by Toby
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:09 am
by Daniel
Supid question, but did you remove the 'air lock' that could have been created when you refilled the radiator? I know when i didnt the same thing happend to me.
The way i do it is to have the car running, switch the heater on and then fill the radiator.
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:10 am
by veecee
Daniel wrote:switch the heater on
are you nuts man... its the middle of summer!!! maybe later, like in july!!!
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:46 am
by Draco
I can not comment on what your problem is but I can ad this, if it was your head gasget your water bottle would empty rather than boil out, symtoms......uses water, car idles iratic, after driving the car and you switch it off look at the exaust...if steam or smoke lookalike comes out after about half a minute to a minute and obviosly when you have been driving like this too long the engine will overheat....your gasket is gone.
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:30 am
by veecee
the loose clamp could've caused the car to overheat, and bubble and boil in bottle.
something similar happened to me at the track last night. but it was from being stoopid - my fault!!!
the water in my bottle was bubbling, but my temp gauge remained a few notched below the redline. so i dont think it was too bad i hope.
if you car is drving like it always does, and there is no mayo in the oil cap, or water cap, and there is no steam out the exhaust (like draco says) then dont worry too much.
keep an eye on it for a while, but it shouldn't be too hectic. only take the head off if you are completely convinced that the gasket is blown i reckon!!!
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:02 am
by gregT
thanks very much to everyone it really has helped out alot. it looks like it was the clamp and also i wired my electric fans incorrectly..... whoooops. but i didnt hammer the car so it hasnt been such a bad thing. so now its been wired correctly and i just got back from durban so im going to try it this weekend and see what else i can find wrong. hopefully nothing.
thanks again though everyone, it has been much appreciated
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:09 am
by veecee
pleasure greg.
was durbs a washout???
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:03 am
by gregT
the tide was high but the time i was there it wasnt as bad as sunday or weekend. quite alot of destruction. i didnt see balito but i got see pictures and the houses are wrecked. poor insurance companies.
http://blog.ecr.co.za/newswatch/ some pics and videos
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 8:09 pm
by veecee
gregT wrote:poor insurance companies.
now there's an oxymoron, and a really dunny one too!!!
POOR insurance companies!!! whatever!!!