Gentabout

Member
Ok anyone replaced them? how easy?

Losing all confidence with the disco at the moment with regards the engine temperatures and cooling.

After last weekends coolant pipe blowing and then the water pump letting out more water than it was pumping on monday it has been fine back and forth to work until tonight. Drove from sittingbourne to Hempstead valley shopping centre and as i came down in to the place the temperature started climbing to just over 3/4 maybe 7/8, no water loss and everything looked fine when i pulled over. Let it all cool down whilst suffering open wallet surgery, came back checked water and level was fine, drove home via back roads rather than motorway and temperature is fine.

When i bought it there was a suspision that the head gasket was blown but sniff tests etc came back clear. Mudsport did spot some leakage from what looked like the block when they had it in for the suspension, but i could not replicate this again and threw some K-Seal in anyhow just in case. This could have been the perished pipe that blew and the water pump as they are in the locations that the garage spotted the slight drip.
So now i am thinking i will just change the gasket to be sure and all the other coolant pipes.

If i need to get the heads skimmed can any suggest somewhere close to Sittingbourne?.

Thinking of tackling it over the easter weekend and hope the heads are fine, do you think it is a doable job for 1 guy in a couple of days?.

Could it be the viscous fan playing up? how do i test that?

Dean
 
Mudsport did spot some leakage from what looked like the block when they had it in for the suspension,

Could it be the viscous fan playing up? how do i test that?

Dean

Take a close look at the core plugs, if they are or have been weeping you will see it. Bit of a pain to do with the engin in place but not impossible.

If you suspect viscous fan, try a spin it by hand. Also feel for any play by trying to gently rock it up and down. Alternative is start the engine let it idle for a few seconds, blip the throttle and turn the engine off. With a cold engine the fan should keep spinning for a second or two. The alternative is let engine get properly warm, hot even then blip the throttle, the fan should be locked up and you will know by the amount of air it will pull through.

As for the last bit of your post, I'm not sure what you are asking - are you wanting to know if itis possible to take off heads and replace gaskets in a weekend? If so the answer is yes if you are reasonably competent withthe spanners, have all the necessary parts and nothing breaks when you strip it down.

Good luck.
 
i don't know how many more times sticking in k seal is a waste of time and as you can see is going to cost you more try a new rad first flush the cooling system and retry if you must you use a sealer only use the irontie sealer which seals the block not a blown head gasket
 
stopped a head gasket problem on a 3.9 se i has a couple of years ago as well, and its still going now amazingly. i feel guilty every time i see it drive past me. NOT.
 
my mate did 400 miles with it in-from pressurising to nothing and no coolant loss-he dogged the vehicle out to a muppet who though he was turning my mate over.
 
sometimes it does work but when you get 10 calls a week from people who have put the stuff in and have a fubard rad then when you replace it it has a head gasket issue if they left and told you all it would have been cheaper on there pocket and fixed first time not having to make two or three trips to fix
 

Similar threads