After three years... 216SLi - 25/2 - behaving itself

[Mally]

Would agree with Bag 'O' Spanners, I too feel the head gasket may be OK,

We only removed the stat to get proven flow, too cold is preferable to too hot at the moment.

Ran fine until the last lap and steam was subdued towards the end. I thought at that time the engine was fine.

Temp was at normal.

Fan does come on when it gets very hot. 

It then boiled up and they found another silicone blockage. I may have let it cool and done a few more laps but I'd gone home by then

Would also agree with bridging the heater, I'd run it without heater for a week or two myself, if there's silicone in there (very likely) it will be the devil to shift. Reverse flushing the heater box may work. We ran a lot of water through it but not sure of direction.

[The Moog]

This thread gives me a warm fuzzy feeling!

In your loins?

 

See below

Have you pissed yourself again?

[Mally]

Bleed valve was open with the engine running and header tank full.

It did seem that with the cap on the header tank the bleed was reluctant to flow, but if you removed the header cap the bleed flow was constant.

Top rad hose felt pretty hard to me.

[omegod]

There's a few R8's in Mallies breakers in Haydock just off the M6 if you need any other bit's Ghosty. 

[Guest Hooli]

I wouldn't want to be changing the head gasket if not sure it's needed either.

 

Mind you, as a first car it's an experience & gives you a lot of understanding how an engine works.

[NorthernMonkey]

Another vote from me for leaving the head gasket for the moment...get the water pump replaced with the correct gasket, flush the block and rad as much as possible not forgetting the smaller bore hoses and bypass the matrix for the minute.

[BavarianRetro]

Don't do the head gasket without evidence of failure. White exhaust on January on a car that's been lying a while is not evidence of head gasket failure.

 

Good level compressions. No oil in coolant. No coolant in oil.

 

No suggestion head gasket needs done.

 

Unless you want to do it. Fair enough,then. Have it skimmed if you do.

[HillmanImp]

I love the way people on this forum are willing to come to the aid of a fellow Autoshiter in his hour of need.

 

Totally off topic and not wanting to thread hijack in any way but my Imp needs prepping for a pain job urgently. I'm too busy banging hot birds to be bothered to do it. Can any Autoshiters come to the rescue? I can ask the neighbours provide cups of tea but you will have to use the public toilets in the village down the road as I don't really want any of you in the house.

[Guest Hooli]

I love the way people on this forum are willing to come to the aid of a fellow Autoshiter in his hour of need.

 

Totally off topic and not wanting to thread hijack in any way but my Imp needs prepping for a pain job urgently. I'm too busy banging hot birds to be bothered to do it. Can any Autoshiters come to the rescue? I can ask the neighbours provide cups of tea but you will have to use the public toilets in the village down the road as I don't really want any of you in the house.

 

 

I can do overnight but need to leave at 6am to get to work...

[dollywobbler]

Just trying to remember the cooling system layout. Is there a pressure cap? Could that be at fault? 

[Guest Hooli]

Don't all cooling systems since about 1920 have a pressure cap?

[dollywobbler]

Don't all cooling systems since about 1920 have a pressure cap?

 

The 2CV doesn't.

[Mally]

I love the way people on this forum are willing to come to the aid of a fellow Autoshiter in his hour of need.

 

Totally off topic and not wanting to thread hijack in any way but my Imp needs prepping for a pain job urgently. I'm too busy banging hot birds to be bothered to do it. Can any Autoshiters come to the rescue? I can ask the neighbours provide cups of tea but you will have to use the public toilets in the village down the road as I don't really want any of you in the house.

 

Sorry but your job may well be a pain, in the @rse.

However we should take pity on anyone with an Imp, hows your head?

No problem with the toilet, we will piss in the tank.

[Guest Hooli]

The 2CV doesn't.

 

Never had the misfortune to get close enough* to one to find out, I never knew that.

 

 

 

*The closest I got to a 2CV was at primary school. I was cycling to school & one stopped, I didn't, slid up the rear window & fell through the roof. Turned out my class teacher was driving, she wasn't impressed.

[Tam]

If Ghosty doesn't use the engine from the KruJoe car. I could offer this hugely high specced 416 to an interested Shiter for a very meagre sum! The same super reliable D16 engine in this one just happens to be buggered!! Be a great project for someone to make a good car out of the 2

 

 

 

[Ghosty]

The heater has never been blisteringly hot, but it worked its best yet on the test run before the temp shot up. As soon as that happened it started stuttering, faltering between cold and warmish. It's definitely not as good as it could be.

I remember the words 'is this pipe supposed to be this hard?' or something to that effect being uttered about the radiator top hose at some point.

 

No progress likely to be made today I don't think as I have to go out and pick up my work uniform and help a mate with his pushbike. I could possibly do the water pump this afternoon/ evening, we'll have to see.

I feel like it'd be good to have the gasket set in stock anyway.

 

ps: nice 416 Tam! Really like the prefacelift R8s.

[BorniteIdentity]

A pain in the arse.

How's your head?

 

 

Looks like Mally is already discussing payment options.  I'm feeling like a 3rd wheel here, so I'm going to shuffle off awkwardly.

 

Don't forget to take precautions, girls...

[bub2006]

That's a really high spec R8 too us to it tam? Don't think I've seen a face-lift with rear electric windows either

[3VOM]

I love the way people on this forum are willing to come to the aid of a fellow Autoshiter in his hour of need.

 

Totally off topic and not wanting to thread hijack in any way but my Imp needs prepping for a pain job urgently. I'm too busy banging hot birds to be bothered to do it. Can any Autoshiters come to the rescue? I can ask the neighbours provide cups of tea but you will have to use the public toilets in the village down the road as I don't really want any of you in the house.

If the autoshite Massive turn up you can fix your own car as the "hot birds" will be getting in the Jags, Lexuses, big Citroens and Bentleys that will turn up. 

[saucedoctor]

Just trying to remember the cooling system layout. Is there a pressure cap? Could that be at fault? 

 

While my R8 was a K Series, I had dreadful problems with it blowing all the coolant out from under the cap. It was bled umpteen times, ran OK for a while and then would do it again. Once I got a new cap for it, it never did it again.

 

EDIT: I've just checked the Rover EPC for that car, and the expansion tank cap is the same part number as the K Series one: PCD100160. They're well-known to be shit.

[Mally]

The heater has never been blisteringly hot, but it worked its best yet on the test run before the temp shot up. As soon as that happened it started stuttering, faltering between cold and warmish. It's definitely not as good as it could be.

I remember the words 'is this pipe supposed to be this hard?' or something to that effect being uttered about the radiator top hose at some point.

 

Old heaters tend to be silted and not as hot as you might expect, bearing in mind there's no stat in the engine, the heater is probably good enough.

 

The top Rad hose has a smaller bleed take off pipe near the rad which runs to the header tank.

My theory is that if the flow into the rad becomes excessive some water is bled directly to the header without passing through the rad.

This would have the effect of raising the temperature in the system. But we had no problem whilst this was functioning.

Top rad hose felt very hard, I removed the bleed pipe from the header and found silicone blockage.

The bleed pipe being blocked would increase top hose pressure, nowhere for it to go.

Then did 4 or 5 laps, fine.

Then it boiled up. You found more silicone in the bypass hose, and removed it.

Seems to me the top hose becomes very hard because the bleed pipe can't work due to silicone.

 

I would sort the water pump and gasket, change the timing belt if you wish, and do some more laps.

Every time it boils up (hopefully never) let it cool a bit then check the bypass hose for blockage.

[Junkman]

Can't that bypass hose just be replaced with a new one?

[Mally]

Can't that bypass hose just be replaced with a new one?

 

Bypass hose is moulded into and part of the top hose,  the piping is a bit of a maze.

If you fitted a complete new top hose any silicone in the system would soon block it.

Its likely the top of the rad core has silicone in as well, but it flows ok, could do to also back flush the rad? 

[Ghosty]

While I was out picking up my work uniform, Old Man's been nosing around, and he now says he's sceptical as to whether the water pump has been done, it doesn't look as if anything's been disturbed.

[Noel Tidybeard]

While I was out picking up my work uniform, Old Man's been nosing around, and he now says he's sceptical as to whether the water pump has been done, it doesn't look as if anything's been disturbed.

 

judging by the amount of sillcunt in th pipes and the opinion of eleventy shitters i would beg to differ

[Ghosty]

It could be either way, we'll see in time. Nobody's been near it recently anyway.

[Mally]

How many places on the engine can you attach something resulting in copious silicone in the water system?

Thermostat housing, water pump, the odd drain plug...water rail? I'm struggling now.. Cylinder head gasket, that's unlikely though, although I have used it on a Reliant!

There's strings of it, not just the odd blob.

Honda experts help needed please.

[Guest Hooli]

While my R8 was a K Series, I had dreadful problems with it blowing all the coolant out from under the cap. It was bled umpteen times, ran OK for a while and then would do it again. Once I got a new cap for it, it never did it again.

 

EDIT: I've just checked the Rover EPC for that car, and the expansion tank cap is the same part number as the K Series one: PCD100160. They're well-known to be shit.

 

I had a car that used to boil because of a dodgy cap too. Didn't think of it for ages either.

[dollywobbler]

Surely it's easy enough to test by just taking the cap off? Or would it just start puking once the water has expanded through warmth?

[Dave_Q]

The reason it would boil with a dodgy cap is if the cap wasn't sealing. A degree of pressure is needed, I think I'm right in saying that the pressure increases the boiling point of the coolant.

 

So trying it with no cap won't help. I don't think they're dear so I'd deffo splurge on a new one to rule it out.