HELP!!!! Overheating V8. Going mad here....

I would love to do it myself but it would take too long and probably end in a minor disaster, plus my drive is right on the road so is not ideal for stuff like that. I have contacted garages but I feel I need to arm myself with as many facts as I can, hence the forum approach. Budget wise I have set a limit before the car gets scrapped and knowing the facts as far as is possible hopefully reduces that spend.
Thanks for replying anyway...

If I could throw in my two-peneth. Yes these engines have a habit of throwing a liner, but research shows it tends to be the earlier Gems engines that have the dodgy fuel map. That aside its always posible that this what has happened to yours. However its more likely to be be something much simpler. If you apply Occams Razor - "when you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better." Things dont look so bad.

The cooling systems on these beasts is not the best and it dont take much to upset them. Reading all the previous posts (calm down Gav ) I`m surprised no one has mentioned the viscous coupling. These certainly dont last forever and too much slip on a gentle climb and you`ve got an overheat, whereas on the same journey sufficient forward motion without any stress will keep enough air flow to keep her cool. Also the much overlooked expansion cap, can throw up a overheat by not keeping pressure and letting the water boil.

So the bottom line is DONT PANIC ! Chucking sealant down her throat was a bad idea, so its best to get rid of what you can, as advised, a good flush out is required. (Get a sniff test first) then I would check the viscous coupling, the cap and thermostat. Have you checked the drivers side carpet for damp ? your wagon is the right age for the heater core O rings to give up the ghost. Oh and one last thing, make sure you bleed the system properly when you top up. You need to remove the small pipe from the top of the rad and give it a blow through to make sure its clear of any water then slowly top up with the engine running at the right temp for the thermostat to be open. You should be getting a good stream of water from this when all is good.

Keep us informed of your findings.

Interesting post...'(sniff test first) made me chuckle that was said very early on in the thread by an amatuer

treborretnim said:

I would love to do it myself but it would take too long and probably end in a minor disaster, plus my drive is right on the road so is not ideal for stuff like that. I have contacted garages but I feel I need to arm myself with as many facts as I can, hence the forum approach. Budget wise I have set a limit before the car gets scrapped and knowing the facts as far as is possible hopefully reduces that spend.
Thanks for replying anyway...

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I'll buy it... how much?

treborretnim said:

Ta ratty, but one sunny day doesn't make a summer does it?
Having said that you are quite experienced. Do you know anyone who can look at it for me and/or do the work?

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Where are you located? If you edit your profile you can add your location. This may help people in advising you of a decent local garage.

I am allegedly pretty experienced (It's part of my job). Unfortunately it didn't stop me buying a vehicle with a cracked head myself.

It does make me feel better that from day 1 I have been right on all counts with my vehicle. My landy came up clear on 3 seperate occasions with both sniff and compression tests performed by an engineering company. I could drive my landy a thousand miles and have no problems. I could also drive it 20 miles and have it blow a hose or kick its coolant out. I kept telling the engineering company this and they kept saying it was fine. In the end I said enough is enough and got the engine stripped. It turned out that my head was shifting on the nylon dowels and that the headgasket was in fact blown. I had the head skimmed and pressure tested and then put back on. I have driven a further 6000 miles as it is. Every now and then I would have to replace something small. Thermostat here, expansion cap there, temp sender etc. I got fecked off a month back and took it back to the engineering company who did the work. They told me again that all was fine. I disagreed and told em to look harder. They took the head off and told me the headgasket was ok. I told em to check the head then cos it aint right. They checked the head again (this time more thoroughly). It turns out that I have 2 cracks. One in the fuel rail and one in the inlet manifold. Both were missed previously.

Experts can get it wrong as well as amateurs. I'm not saying that in your case it is definately terminal. I am saying though that I took my landy to a place with more expertise and equipment than myself and they got it wrong. Badly wrong, and on 5 seperate occasions.

The number of landy experts that thought I was mad when I told em my headgasket was gone was unreal. People on here too. The verdict by everyone was that if it was gone it wouldn't drive as well as it does. Just shows that not everybody is right all the time.

I really do hope for your sake that everybody is wrong on this thread and that it turns out to be a knackered viscous or a weak expansion cap etc.

Unfortunately I was in denial about my own landy even though in my gut I knew what it was. The problem is that if you keep in denial over it you end up wit a vehicle you wont trust. Because of this it wont get driven and that being the case you might aswell not have it.

Good luck with sorting yours out.

Any update on this thread Treb?