P6 - Content - Down at the disco jumper to jumper, wait a minute where's me bumpers? Cable Guy

[Junkman]

It should work without any sealant.

[cort16]

The book recommends putting sealant around the water ports but I read if the faces are a bit rough (they are on mine) it's worth putting it around all the intake ports . I read this after I'd done it obviously.

[Junkman]

Real men don't read books.

If you get a new gasket, i.e. not the old tinplate type, which I wouldn't use ever again, there are sealing beads around all ports.

Slap it on, torque it down, your father's brother is Robert.

[cort16]

Is that the composite ones ? I recon I'll just order one of them and switch them over.

[Junkman]

Yeah, they look like cardboard.

[cort16]

Okay so I bought one of these composite manifold gaskets and got my time to switch it over down from 3 months to 3 hours, which is an increase in performance of around 9000%.

 

Here's are a few things I fucked up.

 

1: The manifold was glued to the engine with gasket sealant and refused to budge. In an effort to move it I took to whacking it with a big hammer via a lump of wood. Unfortunately both myself and the light was dim so I whacked it over one of the outlets on the manifold. Luckily I didn't break it but now it's clogged with wood! 

 

2: I put the heater pipes on the wrong way around and jammed the throttle linkage

 

3: There was a 1/2 a gallon of something in the boot. It was in a screen wash bottle but I'm pretty sure this is what I expertly used to mix my coolant with water but I can't remember 100%. I tipped it in anyway so we'll see what happens.

 

On the plus side it fired up almost straight away with hardly any choke and ticked over at just less than 1000 rpm. Also the choke now works so I guess this did the trick. Conclusion? Those tin gaskets are shite.

[cort16]

aaaannd.

I bought and fitted a composite gasket as per junkman's suggestion and it fixed the vacuum leak

I drove it to Glasgow in September and it over heated on the m8 and blew out enough steam to cook 5kg of brocolli

I parked it in the garage for 3 months and didn't look at it.

My garage door got stuck shut I and I accidentally sprayed a tin of WD40 through the next door neighbour garage door.

I replaced the thermostat

I took it for an MOT and it passed after I covered half the bodywork in gaffa tape

It overheated

I replaced all the coolant hoses

it over heated

I replaced the radiator cap

it over heated

I drained and refilled the coolant by the book

it over heated

I tried to flog it on ebay

it over heated

 

I think this is us up to date.

 

As I may have mentioned it keeps overheating after replacing a few of the key culprits I was starting to think the head gasket had blown. It would start up and run fine, no steam out the exhaust but after about 5 minutes it would start blowing steam out the over flow like a TOTAL BASTARD.

To get a verdict on this I bought one of these block tester things that detects exhaust gases in the cooling system. The first one I bought didn't work, which confused the fuck out of me so I spoke to the company who sent me a new one.

 

You basically put some blue fluid, I believe it's Unicorn jism into a tube and the bulb on the end sucks gas out of the radiator and if the jism turns to yellow piss you have a head gasket leak.

 

 

I must have pumped 500 sqm of radiator gases through the pump and it stayed blue, which leads me to the conclusion the head gasket isn't blown.

 

I gave it a waft under the exhaust and instant piss.

 

 

The only thing I can think  of is the radiator is blocked so I took it out and an alarmingly small amount of water came out. 

 

It's supposed to take 8 litres  but there wasn't even half that came out. Also the top hose is getting hot but not hard. I'm going to give the rad a blast through with the hose tomorrow and see if any water is passing through.

 

[anonymous user]

 

My garage door got stuck shut I and I accidentally sprayed a tin of WD40 through the next door neighbour garage door

We may be related, I recently spent ages with WD40, 3 in one oil and penetrating oil trying to undo a padlock on my side gate; it was much easier when I eventually tried it with the right key.

[cort16]

It was weird, it was totally stuck. I tried it for weeks spraying various fluids through the door (and the neighbours) and nothing worked. I came down to get the garage number so I could call the council and it just opened. What was it doing in there? Probably overheating.

[BavarianRetro]

Years ago we bought a flat with a lockup - which still has a Peugeot 304S cabriolet in it, I need to go and have a look at that - anyway, we got the keys on the Thursday before the September weekend. I went in, switched the water off, ripped the kitchen and bathroom out and into the skip, locked up, went over to the lockup, couldn't get any of the keys of the lockup to fit the padlock the previous owners had left on it, so broke it off. I was horrified by the amount of shite that they had left in there. They said they'd try to clear it out, but it was pretty full. I put a load in the skip, closed over the door and went away for the September weekend.

 

Back on the Tuesday to carnage. As a ground floor flat the water supply for the whole side of the block was in our flat and I'd turned that off rather than our own, cutting off the whole side of the block over the weekend. The water board had been out and left bowsers and pumps and all sorts!

 

Oh, and I'd broken into a neighbours lock up and put some of their prized possessions in the skip.

 

Ten years later, I'm still not terribly popular in that close.

[Junkman]

I had my radiator triple cored after it spouted a leak.

Is your water pump still original? Ones of a certain period had a knack to shed themselves of the impeller.

[cort16]

I had my radiator triple cored after it spouted a leak.

Is your water pump still original? Ones of a certain period had a knack to shed themselves of the impeller.

 

I was told the water pump was changed just before I got it. This could of course have been a lie.

[oldcars]

Good news its not omghgf. Hope its a simple ish fix. Garage door did make me laugh 

[cort16]

So I ran the hose through the radiator and YO there is FLOW. No leaks either. I guess all that's left is that the new stat is burst or the water pump is humped?

[Junkman]

I once changed the stat and the new one did indeed not work. It was made in France.

[jonathan_dyane]

I always heat up new thermostats in a pan of water with a thermometer to test them because about 50% seem to be u/s. Make sure you suspend the thermostat so it doesn't touch the bottom or sides of the pan.

[cort16]

I always heat up new thermostats in a pan of water with a thermometer to test them because about 50% seem to be u/s. Make sure you suspend the thermostat so it doesn't touch the bottom or sides of the pan.

 

 

I did this and it didn't seem to open until it was well over 90 degree's C. I might as well replace it for all the cost.

[cort16]

I tried and failed to get a new stat for this thing to day. However being a guy who just don't give a fuck about nothin' YO I drilled a hole in the old one and re-fitted with the hole at the top as per the various old wives tales I found on the internet.

 

I was squeezing out the sealant for the stat housing and thinking, "blimey not much of this is coming out given the effort I'm putting into squeezing it". 

 

The I saw this.

 

 

The tube had a prolapsed rear end and had dumped all the sealant in several large dollops all over the engine bay as I'd squeezed it. I didn't take any pictures as myself, the car and all my tools now had a 5 mm layer of sealant all over them. I did manage to use some of the excreted sealant to seal the stat housing at least..

 

Once I'd put the radiator back in I ran it up to temp until the stat opened even though it was steaming, spitting and farting everywhere well before that.  I opened the heater, put it up to fast idle, let it run for a few minutes then topped it up to the brim and put the cap on. It was already up to temp so i took it for a 2 mile blast and performed an awesome* one wheel, wheel spin on the wet road down at the harbour.

 

It's done this before when I think it's been cured then I've gone back the next day and it's overheated within a mile.

 

 

[cort16]

I got a chance to take it for a proper spin today. It started off okay then did the normal and heated up and chucked all the water out the overflow. I got it back to my lock up and had the bonnet up contemplating the mysteries of the universe and felt water on my leg. Is it raining? No , weird. Then more water on my leg and then a pouring sound. The radiator had sprung a leak and it was literally pissing on my leg.

 

Conclusion, life is too short, this thing hates me I need it out my life for my own sanity.

[BavarianRetro]

Do you want an E38 728i or two E38 735is in your life? Or even all three?

[cort16]

Cheers, but what I definitely don't need is 3 extra cars.

[jonathan_dyane]

What I'd do:

 

1) If the thermostat isn't opening until over 90 degrees its fucked; try a new (tested) thermostat. I'm sure these started out with an 83 thermostat although personally I'd fit a 74. You could remove the thermostat for testing purposes.

 

2) The radiator sounds fucked. I'd be getting it re-cored.

 

I'd love to buy it off you but I can't

[cort16]

What I'd do:

 

1) If the thermostat isn't opening until over 90 degrees its fucked; try a new (tested) thermostat. I'm sure these started out with an 83 thermostat although personally I'd fit a 74. You could remove the thermostat for testing purposes.

 

2) The radiator sounds fucked. I'd be getting it re-cored.

 

I'd love to buy it off you but I can't

 

How far do you go though? If it was running fine I'd not have any problem putting a new radiator in it but it's not..

[jonathan_dyane]

I guess it depends. I had the impression that other than the terminal overheating it wasn't too bad? You sound ready for a Toyota...

[cort16]

Aye it seems to run fine, I mean if you enjoy stream engines you'd love this.

 

Rimmer bros want 8 quid to deliver a thermostat FFS.

 

Paid it as well. I got an 82C stat and proper gasket. This is last chance saloon, I suspended my ebay advert until next week to see what happens.

[Junkman]

An eBay (sic) ad won't be necessary.

The giant P6 V8 magnet in Granadaland is working a treat.

 

Should it fail, it'll be the 13 and the 46 for me, please.

[UltraWomble]

Go and nail that 106 wheel back on and blez around in that for a bit....

[oldcars]

I guess you will have but have you flushed the coolant pipes? My Reliant was overheating and it was silt blocking up the back of the block. There was a wee screw so i could clean the back of the block out.

[cort16]

I guess you will have but have you flushed the coolant pipes? My Reliant was overheating and it was silt blocking up the back of the block. There was a wee screw so i could clean the back of the block out.

 

No i've not tried that. I've cleared out the radiator but not run a hose through the system.

[dome]

No i've not tried that. I've cleared out the radiator but not run a hose through the system.

I'd definitely do that. Has it had Kseal in it maybe that's blocked it up?