Headgasket again

[Dangerous Dave]

My 850 has been losing a lot of water lately, with a lot coming out of the expansion tank, and I have bought a new tank to put on thinking that the old one is cracked. But tonight when I fired it up at work, the engine misfired slightly which makes me think there's water in one of the cylinders.

So I'm gonna compression test it tomorrow, and get prepared for the worst (and by that I mean get the bits ready for a stripdown yeehaa).

[t5 stealth]

hav u checked the seal on the resoviour cap as that can fail & lose the water.

[Dangerous Dave]

Its a new green cap I bought about 3 months ago (albeit a pattern part from PFV so not sure on the quality)

[Tomcat]

Have you checked the oil for mayo?.

[Dangerous Dave]

No mayo, checked it yesterday and again tonight.

Just got back from my uncles, had to pull in at a petrol station for water, I only filled it this morning.

[Tomcat]

Sounds more like an air lock than a headgaskette, however have you tried taking to a garage and getting a sniff test done?.

[Dangerous Dave]

Got no money for that really (well, not now LOL).

I'll give it a good goin over tomorrow, if the weather lets me. I'll fit the new water tank I got from Rufe too (£23 delivered, bargain! and genuine too with the sticker on, aftermarket ones are £25!)

[leet5r]

could be the thermostat causen it to pressureize the system

[Volvostorm]

I know when I changed my rad, bled it ok, then 2 days later the low coolant light came on

Top it up, been ok since, seems like these engine know how to airlock well!

[Dangerous Dave]

Tried that, brand new thermostat fitted last week.

[Dangerous Dave]

When I have been sat at traffic lights or in a queue and I pull away theres a water/air rushing in the heater matrix

[T5ER]

i had that on my R was a air lock took about a hour to get rid of it, left the car running with top of the tank and just checked it and kept topping it up

[Dangerous Dave]

Just waitin for the rain to stop and I'm gonna run out and sort it, change over the tank and bleed the system hopefully.

[cameron]

Im keeping a very close eye on this thread as im having to top mine up every week near enough.

I cant see any sign of leaks anywhere, the thermostat reading on the dash never goes above " 3 o'clock " it very rarely even gets that high, only when sat in traffic for a bit.

The warning light will come on the dash if i accelerate hard or go up hill, i top up the bottle ( expansion tank ) and it'll stay off for a few days.

No " Mayo " to speak of either.

[Dangerous Dave]

Thats how mine started cameron

[cameron]

Ive still got the old style top for the bottle but i do have the green one somewhere but no seal so ive just bought Martybelfasts green one instead.

Ive even put dry cardboard ( a large box folded flat ) under the car and run it for half an hour, no wet patches whatsoever, although there was a couple of oil spots

I need my cam cover gasket redone ( the liquid one ) it'll have to wait till after crimbo though, just keep checking the oil every couple of days.

[leet5r]

av just done my head gasket the other day. it split a pipe and dropped its water lol. but some 1 never put the water level sensor in , so a dont know if it was low on water , and its gets driven hard very hard like so. any ways a got the pipe on and it was boiling over the header tank , exhaust gases gettin into the water system some where . got the head skimmed and pressure tested and back together it went , when testin the car to make sure every thing was sorted. on tick over the car was sound till about 15 mins when the thermostat should have opened then the water level started to rise , new thermostat in and its sweet as a nut . only thing now is a cant get the water level sensor off the dash and its got a new sensor in. and it the gauge gets to 3 o clock after about 5 mins of driven , any ideas

[Liddo]

Have you guys checked for damp carpets. Daft answer i know, but the heater matrix will lose LOADS of water if knackered

[cameron]

Thats a good point actually, i have noticed my windows steaming up a bit more that usual

Id better go ckeck ....................

[Dangerous Dave]

I was thinking that, but I've got no misting, and no smell inside the car. But I'll check anyways.

Right, I'm gonna get layered up and out to get this thing sorted.