Watery Woes

[scott1980 10]

Hi , been having trouble losing water recently and it's gotten gradually worse . It's a 16v 9A

 

It started a while ago when my top rad hose split and blasted all the water out , a temp fix , limped home and fitted a replacement hose.

Ever since then it's been losing water very slowly and now loses all (or pretty much) coolant in around 5 miles !

 

I've always thought it was coming from the plastic water flange that bolts to the head , bought the part and came to have a go at fitting it this weekend , but on closer looking , it seems to be coming from an area just to the right of the flange...Is it a buggered head gasket ?

 

I've no water in the oil , but seems to come from where the head meets the block .

 

I have bought some holts wondarweld , heavy duty repair stuff , but not actually keen on using it .

 

I've also been looking at getting a gas flowed head fitted , should I wait, get the flowed head on and just keep topping up the water till then ? Or risk the wondarweld ?

 

 

Cheers folks

[rado mc 0]

next to that troublesome flange there's a few sensors if its similar to the KR layout, see if they've cracked/split etc. should unscrew.

[Jim 2]

Are you certain that there's no sensors or anything in that area which could be not quite correctly fitted or is it literally metal on metal? I guess it's entirely possible that it's the head gasket that's failing - but whilst I'm not a mechanic, I'm not sure I've ever heard of the coolant leaking outside of the block in this way. Did the car overheat when the coolant hose burst..? Just wondering if you warped the head slightly or something.. :|

[scott1980 10]

Are you certain that there's no sensors or anything in that area which could be not quite correctly fitted or is it literally metal on metal? I guess it's entirely possible that it's the head gasket that's failing - but whilst I'm not a mechanic, I'm not sure I've ever heard of the coolant leaking outside of the block in this way. Did the car overheat when the coolant hose burst..? Just wondering if you warped the head slightly or something.. :|

 

I'm not aware of any sensors near where it's leaking , I've got a Haynes manual for the 9a engine so I'm gonna have a good look and see if there is anything that could be causing it . It did overheat a bit , of I remember the oil temp got to around 118 Before I could get to the petrol station and give it some water , waited a while till temp got down to about 60 before putting water in .hard to see EXACTLY where it's coming from for the inlet manifold etc .

[Matt@OCD 0]

You'd have to really over heat it to do that but it's possible, especially if it's the standard gasket. Best test to do would be a pressure test while the engines at idle, this allows you to play about more with parts off etc so you can see things easier, keep using coolant too as this will stain where it's leaking from making it easier to find leaks too.

[scott1980 10]

Just had a good prod around in the engine bay , in looking at the hoses and looking for sensors etc. I moved the top hose a little , and there was a good old gush from the flange ...looks like the fecker is cracked after all !

 

Now , ALL I've got to do is take the inlet manifold off to get at the swine .

Hopefully with the new flange on it'll be leak free !!

[Jim 2]

It's not too difficult to do at all - but definitely make sure you've got new intake manifold gaskets! I had to replace the same flange on my valver, and the endless water leaking had soaked into the gasket making it very fragile - which tore when I took it off. Also make sure you're armed with something to dissolve calcium deposits for the mating face on the front of the block as it can get a bit crusty around there, and maybe even some liquid metal to fill in any pitting which can also occur if the flange has been leaking for ages.

[scott1980 10]

It's not too difficult to do at all - but definitely make sure you've got new intake manifold gaskets! I had to replace the same flange on my valver, and the endless water leaking had soaked into the gasket making it very fragile - which tore when I took it off. Also make sure you're armed with something to dissolve calcium deposits for the mating face on the front of the block as it can get a bit crusty around there, and maybe even some liquid metal to fill in any pitting which can also occur if the flange has been leaking for ages.

 

I'm gonna have another go at weekend , got part way to taking the inlet manifold off on Saturday , came unstuck when it came to taking the fuel lines off the injectors , wasn't quite sure how to go about it . Think I've got to undo the nuts on the fuel lines ? I have to move the fuel lines to get the lower manifold off ? Need proper access as one of the cap head bolts is rounded and want to make sure the flange is seated properly ..

[Jim 2]

I'm gonna have another go at weekend , got part way to taking the inlet manifold off on Saturday , came unstuck when it came to taking the fuel lines off the injectors , wasn't quite sure how to go about it . Think I've got to undo the nuts on the fuel lines ? I have to move the fuel lines to get the lower manifold off ? Need proper access as one of the cap head bolts is rounded and want to make sure the flange is seated properly ..

 

I'm trying to remember back to when I did mine - it was quite a few years ago, but I'm quite sure it's possible just to remove the manifold leaving the fuel lines / injectors in place - but of course being careful not to bend the lines. It helps that the fuel lines are rubber / flexi closer down to the metering head giving you a little bit of movement. It did take a bit of wiggling to seperate the lower & upper parts though.

 

I know I never pulled the injectors / disconnected fuel lines on mine till I fitted a refurbished upper & lower inlet manifold so must have done the flange job without pulling them!

[scott1980 10]

Sorry for the late reply , and thanks for the advice and help . It wasn't that bad of a job after all like you said , inlet manifold kind of came off in one lump , put the new flange and gasket on and filled it up ....and it emptied in a few days !!!!

Turns out there was a leak from the water pump too ! it was only about £9 with gasket from my local autofactors so I stuck that bugger on and it's been fine ever since :-)