mike88kennedy

Hi all,

I have just rebuilt my engine. Big end failure.

So got a decent 60k mcrae block. Had my heads skimmed. New head gaskets bolts. New water pum oil pump. New radiator

Got it in on friday night, started it fine put water in ran it up to temperature. Notice ateam coming out of the smaller 10mm hose connected to the radiator.

Thought i might have to burp the engine. Spent the last two hours doing that. I still have the same issue pressure/steam coming out of the radiator.

I then decided to run engine with the header tank cap off, it sounds like a kettle boiling. Any Ideas? I am thinking it is pressure from the cyclinder making it do this. Also the heater is not blowing hot air.
Cheers

stedee

iTrader: (4)

when i fill my coolant up while running i squeeze all the big hoses at the front off the rad to get as much air out as poss. then let it cool and do the same again. if i think i ve filled it i take a bottle of water with me at least 2 litres have a quick drive nothing hard and keep an eye on my water temp. let it cool again and see how much water is in the header tank.

if this doesnt sort it out sounds like hgs havent seated properly for some reason

madmarx

iTrader: (1)

The header tank should get hot and force fluid back into the expansion tank. Remember scoobs have the thermostat on the cold water going in end and not on the hot coming out. Maybe it is a flow problem. Does the lower radiator hose get hot when the engine is at running temperature ?

mike88kennedy

Yeah tried pumping with both hoses. The lower hose doesn't get hot at all. Not even a little bit. I checked the stat is in the right way, the dome part pointing away from the engine. Or at least thats the same way it cam out.

I really dont want to have to take heads off again would be nice to just make sure it is something to do with the water.

Ok to recap water will after a few minutes spew back out all spitting out like a kettle boiling over, and there is steam coming out of the rad bottom rad hose is stone cold so are blowers

RICHARD J

iTrader: (4)

Sorry to say but it sounds like a blown HG. Try a new pressure cap first though, & good luck.

Primeiro

You say you had your heads skimmed.

Did you do anything to the deck faces on the block? And history of the bottom end?

Realy go over it as I am sure you are but headgasket does give your symptoms, keep at it.

mike88kennedy

The block faces I used fine sand paper but they were pretty clean anyway. I dont know the full history but so know it was low milage.

Yes had the heads skimmed, if i do replace the gaskets which i will be getting tomorrow will the heads want re doing? Engine runs smooth.

Funnily today i started it, it ran for possibly 5 mins and i was topping up the water after thinking i had burped it, and the fan kicked in and revs dropped right of to 400rpm so i reved it and noticed check engine light came on, stopped it, started it and ecerything was fine again, really smooth.

Will do gaskets tomorrow night. Thoughts on skimming the heads again? Its a 99-00 car are there diff torque setting for this age?
Cheers

madmarx

iTrader: (1)

Im still worried why the bottom hose hasnt got hot when you say you have run it up temperature. Have you got any way of peforming a cylinder leak test ? A way to do one is drill out an old spark plug and weld / braze a pipe to it and attach it to a compressor. you would screw it in each spark plug with the piston near the top on firing stroke and see if your header water moves / ripples or gets blown out etc when you applied compressed air to each cylinder.

RICHARD J

iTrader: (4)

If you do it again you need the block & head faces looking at by a Subaru expert. They may not be true or the finish not good enough to seal. I'd try the pressure cap first cost about a fiver & worth a go, try a thermostat too if you haven't already.

scubbay

iTrader: (61)

I think you still have an airlock. Perhaps your radiator is blocked? Sometimes they are a complete bugger to bleed properly. Id do a sniff test before removing the engine or stripping. A new rad could sort this out.

mike88kennedy

Thanks all. It has a new rad in, it is brand new I only fitted it Friday. Will empty the whole thing and try again.

The one thing that is getting me the radiator is hot, but the bottom hose is stone cold... that doesn't make any sense to me. also like I said the top hose there is a little connection point which goes to the header tank, when I take that pipe off there is just steam coming from that part of the rad...

madmarx

iTrader: (1)

Try it with no thermostat in for now. See if you can feel the waterpump rotate as it only drives from the rear of the cambelt. When the bottom hose gets warm you will have flow.

dazdavies

iTrader: (22)

Sounds like a thermostat/waterpump issue to me.

As above, try and replace the thermostat or cut the centre out of an old one and try that. You cant just take the thermostat out as you have to use the thermostat casing as that is the seal between the pump housing and and the elbo for the bottom rad hose.

If you still have a problem after that then its likely to be a head gasket issue. Cosworth stopper gaskets are worth a punt as they allow for a little margin of error.

mike88kennedy

Thanks Daz, will give it go. Can only hope I dont need to remove the gaskets.

does the steam coming from the smaller top pipe of rad seem normal to you guys?

madmarx

iTrader: (1)

When water gets hot it steams, so that alone is not a concern. Bottom hose staying cold indicates no flow, so you need to sort that as Daz as said. Does your temp gauge stay just below half or rise upwards ?

mike88kennedy

Temp gauge yesterday when trying to re burp it stayed at half way. Didn't rise at all. But the heaters never got hot either.

Tell you what, I will have a go tonight and update you all then.

I have a spare stat I will put that in and see what happens if all else fails I will rip one apart and fit that.

will also try flushing out my NEW radiator to be sure. Why are thing never easy.

madmarx

iTrader: (1)

The heaters didnt get hot because you have either got an airlock or a flow problem. Head gasket probs normally raise the temp quickly as the heat from combustion also gets transferred to the water system.

mach

mine did same after a new radiator, old thermostat looked almost new but turned out to be duff.as stated try with no thermostat or it could be water pump.

mike88kennedy

Thanks Mach. Will try my spare stat. If that has the same issue I will order a new one. Just spoken to a guy at scottish subarus. Had a few bits off him before he thinks it is a blockage of some description. Doubtful it will be the head gaskets as the engine does run buttery smooth.

Will keep you all updated.

mike88kennedy

Hi all.

Good news and bad.

The good, the car is now holding pressure and blowing hot air. After taking out the stat i tried it in boiling water with my spare both opened to a identical amount...

Which annoyed me as i thought great must be something worse.

I eventually found that the pass side hose to the heater matrix was cold on the rubber pipe hot on the metal.

So i removed the pipe let it spit out alot of water then re connected. And hey presto hot running water.

Bad points noticed my crank oil pump seal is leaking... And my bro knocked my samsung galxy note to the bottom of the pit and cracked the screen.

So onto the other issues in my life.thanks for the help guys.

Thread closed