Water problems

[volvomad]

Hi all,

wondering if anyone could help me. was driving along today and got a smell of coolant so i pulled over and switched off the engine, left it for a minute then opened the header tank cap. all the water then came out of the header tank. i filled it back up with 8 pepsi cans full of water which didn't seem alot to fill up a water system. then i set off again. the temperature gauge sits just over halfway and has never risen above that. i got home and checked it again and let the cap off slowly. the water rose up the tank and then went back down. my mate came over who is a mechanic and there's no water in the top and bottom radiator hoses. just wondering if anyone has had this problem, bearing in mind the temperature never rose above where it usually sits and the heaters never went cold. it doesn't lose water either. any help would be much apreciated as i don't want to damage the engine.

thanks

[callyuk]

the water must be passing through the top and bottom hose's to run through the rad otherwise the car would just overheat. sounds like an airlock to me

[t5 stealth]

yeah possible air lock,but i think you may of caused that by opening the top....
if you open the cap shortly after stopping then the water will spill out as its hot,& under pressure,water expands when its hot...
best thing to do is let the water system go cold,ie check it in the morning before you start it up.
the water will be low in the morning....top it back up to the max level,run the engine with the cap off for a couple of minites to let any air out,
refit the cap then let it warm up to temp.but never open the cap if its hot or just stopped as you risk water loss & burns...

[volvomad]

sweet motor. thats what me and my mate thought, that it was an airlock too. could you tell me where your temperature gauge sits if you don't mind. thanks, stuart

[volvomad]

yeah possible air lock,but i think you may of caused that by opening the top....
if you open the cap shortly after stopping then the water will spill out as its hot,& under pressure,water expands when its hot...
best thing to do is let the water system go cold,ie check it in the morning before you start it up.
the water will be low in the morning....top it back up to the max level,run the engine with the cap off for a couple of minites to let any air out,
refit the cap then let it warm up to temp.but never open the cap if its hot or just stopped as you risk water loss & burns...

yeah had a bit of a blonde moment when i opened the cap when it was hot. you don't think it could be the head gasket? thanks for your help

[callyuk]

if it was headgasket you would normaly see a creamy coloured water where the oil has got in or masses of steam comming out of the exhaust also check for the cream in the oil at the dipstick.
my temp usually sits about halfway maybe a fraction higher

[t5 stealth]

i wouldnt of thought head gasket just yet by one slight fault...& without seeing it .
you shouldnt be able to smell coolant,its all sealed in the engine,if you smell it then you have a leak,or you smelt it from the car in front having a problem lol...
or maybe your screen wash as that will smell through the air vents into the car...
i think you might of just paniced a bit & opened the cap too early lol.
my temp gauge stays in the centre.
best thing to do is get the water level correct in the morning then monitor it closely for a few miles & days to keep check on whats going on with it.
then you can catch it before its a major prob.

[callyuk]

if you are sure its coolant from your car you can smell check the passanger side foot well for dampness could be comming from the heater matrix another way to test is when you smell it switch the heater off and see if the smell goes

[volvomad]

yeah i checked for the milk in the oil and there`s none,my gauge sits just above the half way to and it never moves so thats peace of mind then,my mate is bringing home a vacum machine that sucks out the air and fills it with coolant so that might work i hope....

[t5 stealth]

yeah i checked for the milk in the oil and there`s none,my gauge sits just above the half way to and it never moves so thats peace of mind then,my mate is bringing home a vacum machine that sucks out the air and fills it with coolant so that might work i hope....

shouldnt need that as it should bleed itself out but if hes gona try then im sure it wont hurt
hope its nothing serious anyway

[volvomad]

i wouldnt of thought head gasket just yet by one slight fault...& without seeing it .
you shouldnt be able to smell coolant,its all sealed in the engine,if you smell it then you have a leak,or you smelt it from the car in front having a problem lol...
or maybe your screen wash as that will smell through the air vents into the car...
i think you might of just paniced a bit & opened the cap too early lol.
my temp gauge stays in the centre.
best thing to do is get the water level correct in the morning then monitor it closely for a few miles & days to keep check on whats going on with it.
then you can catch it before its a major prob.

yeah i think i have paniced a bit early. just got the car on saturday and don't want anything to go wrong. knowing my luck it probably was the car in front lol. i'll check it in the morning and keep my eye on it. when we got it back to the house earlier, my mate had the cap off while i revved the engine and no water came out. when we switched the engine off the water then came flooding out again though not as bad as before.

[volvomad]

shouldnt need that as it should bleed itself out but if hes gona try then im sure it wont hurt
hope its nothing serious anyway

me too thanks for your help

[850 Skye]

Alright mate did you and Jocks get it sorted?

[volvomad]

yeah sorted it, it's all good. cheers for asking. getting my wheels refurbished and a stainless exhaust from elgin in a few weeks.