Morning folks I know this is a subject that comes up all the time but just looking for abit of advice before I take an engine out.

My car has been losing water only a cup full a week and havent been able to find where from I had my suspisions the reserve tank behind headlight as cap came off but that could have been down to not pushed on correctly.

I drained the system and filled from water pipe on the turbo the header tank can be full with no bubbles with lid off fans kick in etc

Wed night I gave it a boot full down a by pass and some lanes for about 5 mins boosts fine no missfire ticks over fine etc but was driving steady through my village temp rose realy high heaters went cold it didnt spit water out but now im paranoid heads gone after looking on here saying heads are lifting on boost

please help as ive just had a full respray on the vehicle and moneys tight

 

doesnt sound good, but get a sniffer test done.

 

Get the car started and leave it running till the fans kick in. Then check for leaks.

I had a similar problem myself. It was my mechanic who found the leak but it didn't leak at all until it was hot and the fans were running. As soon as the fans cut off it would stop leaking hence only loosing cup fulls a week.

I think it was one of the metal pipes in the radiator. It was a new radiator in the end and problem solved.

 

Early signs of a head gasket going mine was exactly the same before it went. Another sign is make sure the overflow tank is to its level the one behind the passenger side headlight and then warm the car up take it for a short run giving it boost, pull over and see if it's bubbling bad inside. Sniff test it otherwise to confirm. You can DIY the whole thing including head skims and parts for around £700-800 if you shop around and you have the tools. It was recommended to me by members here and Kev at Scooby clinic to replace the main and big end bearing at the same time(ACL Duraglide was what I used) which I did and I also lapped all the valves in and fitted new Hastings rings, new gaskets and seals. Other option is risk buying a second hand lump but a benefit of this is you can rebuild the one in the car whilst it's out. It is a fairly easy engine to rebuild apart from the blocks 2 halve design which means you have to split it to get the Pistons/Crank out but loads of videos on youtube to watch before attempting it and great help from lads on here.

 

Go to a decent garage, ask for a chemical test its 90% accurate, if i was asked because your heaters are going cold sadly id say yes heads, however could be water pump issue, is your coolant dark / have a rainbow resiudue? any paste in oil / water?

 

I do have a noise from the front part of engine so ive bought a power steering pump could it be water pump

 

after a blast what are your hoses like ?
the top rad hose tends to be rather firm if the head gasket is failing.

 

To be honest i never checked that it was late at night and i was just trying to cool it down i looked for leaks and could see any but they was water in the reserve tank but it was going up and down not bubberling just going higher and lower

 

And you filled it REALLY SLOWLY, with the heaters set to "hot" when you refilled?

What you are describing sounds more like an airlock.

And competent garage will do a sniff-test for cheap.

 

Is there any fouling too the oil or water? And yes could be an airlock there not over easy too bleed

 

Just drained the system filled it left it all fans kick in

Gone for a drive stood in traffic heaters go cold slightest throttle heaters blow warm, temp went up reved it up temp dropped is that water pump

 

is it the 2.5 engine?

 

Water pump / airlock mate

 

Its a 2.0 v5

Just weird how soon as I put revs on blows warm again

 

Water pump / airlock mate, how you bleed it?..

 

Left it running till fans kicked in