Puma Problem - SPANNERSPAZ

[face]

Morning chaps. Got a problem with my 1400 Puma this morning.

 

Started on the button this morning, five miles into my seven mile commute I noticed my feet were cold - the heater had gone stone cold and the temp was almost up in the red.

 

So I pulled over and stopped the engine. Waited for five minutes and set off for work (as I was so close).

 

Pulled into work and drove the few hundered metres to the car park - during which time the heater warmed for a few seconds then dropped and the temp guage plunged back to normal only to climb up again.

 

I also noticed the old girl was chuffing out condensation from the exhaust for a little longer than normal.

 

Any clues, bearing in mind the thread title....

[Rocket88]

Most obvious question. Has it got any coolant in it!

[face]

Going out to check in a bit - stuck in the office FFS.

[nigel bickle]

Armchair diagnosis is that your antifreeze has wormed its way under your head gasket.

 

No heater is often the first sign of coolant loss, confirmed by the temp gauge, and excessive condensation from the exhaust.

 

Hopefully you caught it early enough to try K seal , or avoid a serious skim.

 

Soz

[face]

Coolant is up to the max and antifreeze-a-plenty.

 

No water in oil or vice-versa.

 

No coolant leaks from rad or system.

[beko1987]

Heater control valve or thermostat housing would be my bet.

[Lankytim]

The heater valve on these mong up all the time. Bet its that.

[jonny69]

My bet would be a dead thermostat if these have little disc thermostats like old Fords, Minis etc (or do moderns not use them any more?). You can just take old thermostat out to check if it's the problem, and it'll get you home, then it's a £5 part and a new gasket to fix properly. There's no problem leaving it out, it'll just take the engine a lot longer to warm up which will affect your fuel consumption long-term.

[face]

Cheers for the replies.

 

A chap here at work thinks the water pump could have frozen up. I'm going to run it a mile up the road to get some petrol at lunch to see what happens.

[mk1_4dr]

Cheers for the replies.

 

A chap here at work thinks the water pump could have frozen up. I'm going to run it a mile up the road to get some petrol at lunch to see what happens.

 

The water pump hadn't frozen up, if it had your timing belt would've lost teeth and you'd be in a whole world of trouble.

 

I'd hazard a guess at heater control valve, but stick a thermostat in there to be safe...

[cort16]

The heater control valve wouldn't make it overheat would it it? I'd say take the stat out of it and see what happens if that doesn't work put some k-seal in it.

[alf892]

water pump is unlikely to freeze as long as block has not frozen over night..........and if this happened it would likely pop core plugs

 

it sounds like your rad froze.........those waterways are very thin and get lots of windchill so if coolant old or a/freeze content a bit down it can totally or partially freeze. this stops circulation (and therefore heater) and engine boils but rad will be stone cold.

[face]

Just ran it a mile or so to the garage for some fuel.

 

Started fine, warmed up quickly (as normal).

 

Filled up and came back to work. Guage settled on it's normal half way mark and the heater pumped out nice and warm.

 

Odd.

[richardthestag]

sounds to me like you need higher concentration of antifreeze in the cooling system.

 

Last night because it was nippy and you might not have had enough antifreeze, the rad / block froze. warming the engine did not unfreeze it quick enough before the engine started to overheat. the heat from the engine then eventually thawed the rad / block and all seems well now, but it will be cold again tonight! frozen water in rads and blocks can (though more likely to pop core plugs) render them as boat anchors so best get it sorted asap

 

Nip down to halfrauds (other high street motor facts may be available) and they might test the antifreeze concentration. IIRC there was something about mixing the pink and blue types of antifreeze and turning coolant to turn into wallpaper paste!

[face]

Aye, that sounds likely.

 

Thanks for the tips.

 

I parked the car the other way around last night, normally it's nose into the house. That may have swung it a few degrees.

[Station]

My pump froze once - it spun round fine, but the channels to and from were frozen and the engine overheated in less than a mile.

I found a hairdryer thaws the system out in minutes if you take the big pipe off and blast it down. I'd say anyone using water should stick antifreeze in ASAP as I had to change a whole engine when mine froze and cracked the block. Lots of hassle.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Excellent tip that!!!

[RichL]

Don't discount the heater control valve just yet. My old Fiesta Zetec S had exactly the same problem. FMC's parts suppliers produced some dodgy replacement valves that the coolant didn't flow though properly. Mine started to overheat when set to half way/cold. Coolant flow's though the valve and back to the engine when in this position and poor flow meant overheating. When the switch is set to hot the coolant flows though the valve to the heater matrix and back to the engine freely.

 

I could be wrong but it might be worth checking before spending £££'s on parts like water pumps/stats and taking the head off for no reason...

[beko1987]

They are under £30 from ford. When mine went on a Sunday Ford were closed so bought an £16 allparts one, which failed after 5 weeks. Put the Ford one on and it was fine for the next 7 months until I scrapped the car, and is still going fine on a friends fiesta, which had the same issues so I fitted mine.

 

If the coolant doesnt drop then it wont be the thermostat housing, although mine did this at 7pm at asda with the missus. Luckily she was pregnant so the AA came in about 10 seconds, lobbed some k-seel in and followed me the 4 miles to mu mums where I dumped it and rung a friend, who helped me change it that weekend...

 

 

blew a hole in the seal ridge. Check the k-seal out!