Coolant Exiting Header Tank Via Overflow Pipe - Headgasket?

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

Just wanting to confirm if others think this is likely to be a headgasket issue. I've had a look through some older threads on the forum & some of them tend to point to it

 

Basically took the car for a good run this afternoon (about 3 hours continuous) and during that time the car ran fine, sat in traffic with no overheating issues, fan kicked in when required, etc, however when I got home & parked the car up the drive, then shut off the engine, I popped the bonnet and found coolant had started flowing quite freely out of the overflow pipe on the header tank (phase 2 black type) and down the back of the engine bay

 

As said during the entire drive, and even when parking the car up before cutting the engine, there were no warning lights on dash, no overheating during the entire drive, the fan was running fine when needed, water pump & thermostat are 18 months old, header tank cap was fitted a few weeks ago when it was serviced & old coolant drained & replaced with new. The coolant only started overflowing after the car was parked up & engine turned off, no coolant had started draining out in the road before I parked it.

 

Also the car has run fine the last 3 weeks when I've taken it out on similarly long runs with no problems. There's also no sign of any "mayo" in the oil filler, header tank doesn't have a scent of fuel, etc.

 

I'm obviously loathe to put more water in & run the engine again incase of doing any more damage, and my mates garage that works on my car is a good 1 hour drive away, so don't really want to risk just topping the coolant up & driving over to leave the car to be checked incase it causes any further damage to the engine

 

Probably something nice & expensive & also more than likely terminal, which would be about right after just replacing the windscreen.

[Goliath 94]

From your description it doesn't sounds like anything bad to me, it sounds like the expansion tank and overflow pipe are doing there job perfectly and letting out the excess water as it expands.

If there was enough exhaust pressure in the water system to make it overflow I think the header tank would smell strongly of exhaust.

 

I think that even if the HG is on its way out you won't do any damage driving it as long as you don't let it overheat.

 

At the Cheddar meet recently someone parked up and had the same issue you describe, I think its fairly normal after a long drive.

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

Could be a faulty cap. I know there are a few different pressure rated caps too are you sure you got the right one?

[farmer 327 1 Cars]

If your cap is orginal metal type, take it of and see if it has a crack in the metal casing underneath.

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

Only reason i'm concerned is the amount of water/coolant that was released. I'd say there was at least a good 1 litre odd that poured out & based on how wet the drive was. I've also never had this problem in the entire 5 years I've owned the car when I've taken it for a good long drive, be it in either cold, warm or hot weather

 

Expansion tank cap is a brand new metal twist & secure tight one & also the correct pressure rating. Had it replaced at the service a few weeks ago as the other one that was fitted was showing it's age.

 

Only other reason i'm thinking the HG is because my Saxo VTS track car did something similar about 3 months ago (albeit via the radiator cap) and ran fine for another week with no issues before it started burning through about 3 litres of coolant every time the car got taken out, so it's currently off the road waiting to be fixed, so it would just be my luck for the Pug to go the same way tbh

[farmer 327 1 Cars]

You sure the cap is on correctly,as they are hell of a tight fit when new ?

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

Haven't topped the water up lately a bit too much have you?

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

Yep cap is definitely on correctly It hasn't been undone since it was fitted a few weeks ago after the old coolant was drained out & new put in

 

Also the car went for a similarly long drive to today last week and didn't do this when I parked it up

Edited May 10, 2013 by AlexRS2782

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

I presume you didn't do the coolant change then?

 

Perhaps they overfilled it and only now it's got red hot from a ragging it's overflowed.

 

What's the level at now it's stone cold?

[d7ve_b 44 1 Cars]

You sure the fans are working ok?

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

A few things out could be.

 

Dieing/faulty pressure cap

Blown hg pressurising the system.

Air lock from where you filled the coolant system and didn't bleed it

Fans aren't working

Dodgy thermostat

Edited May 10, 2013 by Paul_13

[farmer 327 1 Cars]

Was it a genuine cap that was fitted, not some cheap patten part ?

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

No I didn't do the coolant change, but the car is always serviced at my mates garage who's been doing all the work on my cars for the last 10 years - the guy who does the work on the Pug has also worked with them since the mid '90s & owned a few himself over the years, so knows what he's doing Plus he's done the coolant change a number of times over the years when I've had other work done, new hoses, etc, so I can't see him overfilling or airlocking it, as he's never made that mistake before

 

As said it's had a run, like the one today, last week and the car was fine. Plus I've taken the car on quite a few runs like today over the years & this has never happened before, so something has happened since then

 

I'll check the level in the tank tomorrow

 

Water pump & thermostat are also no more than 18 months old & were decent quality parts used so i'd expect them to last longer than 18 months tbh.

 

Yep fan is definitely working - came on and ran when the car was stationary on the M27 in a queue for a good 15 mins & car didn't overheat, boil over, etc.

 

Cap is also a genuine item as the guy who works on my car knows I like everything o.e or uprated & he wouldn't use cheap parts due the nature of the other cars he works on

Edited May 10, 2013 by AlexRS2782

[PhilNW 40]

Do the fans continue to run after you have switched off, could be the temp switch in the rad not running the fans for long enough to cool it down when you switch off

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

Fan wasn't running when I turned the engine off but i'm guessing that was due to the fact it had been running a short while before I got home when in traffic & also as the temp gauge wasn't reading high enough to warrant them cutting in I think.

 

Didn't get a chance to check the coolant tank today as it's been chucking it down, so will try to have a look tomorrow

 

At the moment, after the screen & other problems in life, I'm tempted to just isconnect the battery & leave it parked up the drive for a few weeks, take a break from the cars altogether, and then tackle any issues when I have the will to do so

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

Right, finally had a chance to get under the bonnet today.

 

There is a very small amount of coolant left in the header tank, but there is no smell of fuel / carbon deposits in the tank, which hopefully is good news.

 

If the weather is dry in the next day or so i'll try starting it back up & leave it to idle (or give it a quick drive) to get it up to temp & make sure the fans are still cutting in, etc.

[MikeC 10]

How is your oil?

Mine had a habit of sucking the water into the engine when the HG was gone.

Don't mean to scare. Hopefully it's a leak

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

Hoping to fire it up tomorrow as weather is dry & see what happens

 

I've had a good look under the car today and there are no signs that any fluids have been draining from any hoses since it's been parked up.

 

Oil was changed a couple of weeks ago at service (always do oil & filter yearly) and current oil level is still just under the max mark on the stick & hasn't shown any signs of blowing up the tube that holds the dipstick

 

Oil filler chamber is a fairly new one with a fairly new cap too (both oe) and although the cap still has the metal gauze in there are no signs of the white "mayo" or any signs of excess oil or breathing problems When I removed the old airbox a few weeks back the inside of the oe airbox hoses were fairly clean again with no signs of excess oil going through them

[MikeC 10]

That sounds pretty good mate.

One thing i will say and it is to follow up on what Farmer said above.

I ended up working on a Landcruiser a while back.

Head was done, with gasket, new stat and housing, and new rad, due to a overheating problem.

Engine kept overheating, pressurising the rad and all.

It turned out to be the radiator cap. €25 on a cap after over €2000 worth of work.

All the work was done by a reputable garage, and it ended up with me as i was family and the person was ready to burn it!

As farmer said i wouldn't write off the cap.

Also, how it your heater matrix side of the system as the aluminium pipes does corrode beneath the pipe as they enter the bulkhead (as it did on mine)

[Grim.Badger 15]

I've had this, or a similar problem, on a couple of my GTi's - In my case it was a pinhole leak in one of the pipes that comes out of the back of the SAD/Coolant housing which I couldn't see until I'd taken half the car apart (no drips or similar during running, just crusty, gooey deposits around the hole). Coolant would slowly drain over a few days creating a small air pocket. Eventually the air pocket would get large enough that when the engine got back up to temp the next day the air would expand and push around 1L-2L of coolant out of the expansion tank, sometimes quite dramatically (think sudden plume of steam when going around a round-about! Scared the hell out of me, I thought I was on fire )

 

Just another thing to check before writing the engine off

[MikeC 10]

That's the stuff ya want to hear Grim! Odd ball issues like that, that make French motoring what it is

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

Finally going to work up the desire / willingness to look at it tomorrow

 

Hoses to the SAD area look fine as they're all BBM silicone ones about 3 years old - but I will have another good check over all the hoses just incase

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

So to update this.

 

Good check over all the silicone hoses, SAD, etc, and all is fine. Coolant tank also had some fluid left in it before I went out for a run so I decided against topping up.

 

Managed to take the car out for a run covering about 100 miles in total with a variance of m/way, dc, rural & local - with a few stop starts along the way - and the car has run fine, no overheating, etc - fan appeared to cut in correctly when I got home as well, however it sounded like it didn't when I was held up for an extended period at some roadworks along the way, so i'm going to get the fan & relay checked incase there is an intermittent connection & that was causing the last issue.

 

Cars also didn't drop any coolant when I got home, so i'm going to just keep an eye on the car the next few times I take it out & see how it goes.

 

On the downside however, I've gained a slow puncture from the passenger rear tyre courtesy of catching a crater in the road that I couldn't avoid so will get the tyre bead resealed & possibly a new valve as it appears to be coming from there.

 

Plus the stupid intermittent non start of the car has returned again as well, which i'd last put down to either dodgy starter or an immobiliser issue from the alarm system, but as it stopped a few months back, I left it hoping for the best. After giving the starter a good few taps before I went out for a drive it started, so on that basis i'm finally going to get the spare refurbished starter motor fitted in the next month Good news is the brown multiplug is in great condition so hopefully not causing any issues.

[PhilNW 40]

On mine fan did not cut in due to dodgy switch in radiator and connector, on starter wire to starter solenoid is frequently a problem , check before messing with starter itself

[damo 17 2 Cars]

yeah that was mine leaking at cheddar filled the header tank a few days before around 3/4, or just over. did worry for a bit bit!!! it seems happy at 2/3 full. its ok just when its hot it expands so over filled a little.