coolent temp question

[Dilated 0]

I'm a little concerned at the temperature of my coolent. It generally sits around 80ish, creeps up to 90 or so sometimes, but then goes back around 80ish. I know the car had a new radiator just before I purchased it as the old one blew up so i'm not sure what if this is too low or not. Does this seem a rather low temp?

Also, I had checked the level the other day as I had water in the passenger footwells (after hard hard rainy days, but just thought i'd double check the level in case it could be coolent) and it was maybe a centimeter or so below the minimum. Not sure why or where this coolent might have gone, but i topped it up and it doesn't seem to have gone down at all yet (1 week later anyway).

 

Considering the cars burning oil and cloggin up number 1 spark plug every 5-6 weeks or so, I know i should be budgeting for a head rebuild minimum (crosses fingers) but i'd hoped to hang on for a bit until I have some more cash to get this spare head i've got reconditioned.

 

Do I have anything to be concerned about?

[Roger Blassberg 0]

1 cm below maximum is probably accounted for by occasional evaporation and may not be a leak, especially if it has not lost more since the top-up. Incidentally, did you check if the water in your footwells was coolant (sticky, sweet-tasting), in which case your heater matrix may have a small leak.

 

If your engine is oiling nr. 1 plug (and maybe nr. 6) you may be looking at ovalised bores rather than worn valve guides. Do you get grey smoke under acceleration (bores, rings), or immediately after running on a closed throttle down a hill (valve guides/stem seals)? How many miles has the engine done?

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Dilated 0]

had a bit of a discussion about the smoking a while ago, but need to investigate further really. It blue smokes upon hard accelleration - only really noticeable in lower gears and whent he revs hit around 4k+ and yea, after a period of overrun down a hill and acceleration out of it, it plumes smoke out the back.

 

I compression tested it and was fairly consistent accross all 6, bar number 2 which was a little lower than the rest (only did the test once, so not sure if that was just a slightly error reading...

 

Engine has alledgedly done 88k now, was on 75 when i got it amost a year ago.

[dr_mat 0]

Temperature is NOT a problem. 80 is when the thermostat opens, so that's what the engine should stay at.

[Dilated 0]

Thanks, I can relax about that now. Will keep an eye on the coolant level and see if any magically disappears again anytime soon!