sti555

Hi, I have an STi version 2

wonder if anyone can help, just taken my car out for a blast, was running really quite well, pulled up to a juncion and noticed loads of steam coming out of the front of the car, bloody loads of it!.

Anyway just got home had a look, to the left of the radiator there is a big black round thing with two pipes coming in/out, the big round thing is between the I/C water bottle and radiator, just wondering what it is, have just put the pipe back on and wondering why it has come off, is it due to excess pressure in the water system thus hiding another fault (head gasket etc) or is it nothing to worry about.

Thanks

Tim

greasemonkey

Not 100% sure where exactly you say the steam is coming from Tim. Do you mean it's coming from the black canister itself, has a pipe come off it and is belching steam, or wot? Also when you say the black thing is on the "left" of the car, is that as you look from the front, or is it as you look from the steering wheel?

Also, wot exactly do you mean by "I/C water bottle"? The intercooler doesn't have a water bottle, so that doesn't really help identify what you're talking about!

sti555

GM,
thanks for the reply, as I'm standing in front of the car the big black round canister is on the left of the engine bay (same side as turbo) I meant between the the IC water spray bottle and radiator, the black canister has two black pipes on top, they seem to have a grey non return valve on each pipe, one is closer to the canister the other is on a longer bit of pipe, this is the one that came off the grey non return valve type thing, I would estimate its a similar pipe size to aquarium airline about 6mm, steam seemed to be coming out of this pipe when it came lose, it runs under the coolant header tank I think, where the high pressure cap is on the squareish shaped tank.

Hope that helps, if not will try to get some pic's up in the morning.

I assume I will have to secure this pipe with a clip or cable tie and then topup the coolant system again.

Thanks for any help

Tim

sti555

Just to add the in car gauges showed no unusual readings in water or oil temp so dos'nt seem to have overheated, or run unusually high, had similar problems when the radiator header tank split on the same side about 6 months ago, it had a stress crack right where the flexible pipe fits on.

sti555

had a look at the problem in daylight, the top radiator hose had split.

Local dealer says it's a common problem, £19 + VAT just repairing the T peice now for the water gauge then will pop her all back together