Steam...

Just gave my son a lift into town for a party. Only a couple of miles. When picking him up I was nearly home when had saw a cloud of steam as I pulled up at a roundabout. Temp still ok. Got home but too dark to see, though a very acrid smell. Seemed to be coming from the left of the engine rather than the expansion cap. May not get a chance to look in daylight til the weekend but any pointers would be appreciated! HGF, water pipe, anything else?

Could also be leak from the inlet manifold?

Best thing is not using it until you can have a good look in daylight, may just be a split hose.

What ever it is, we'll get it sorted and you'll soon be enjoying your F again :thumbsup:

Let us know what you find.

Tsleight wrote: Just gave my son a lift into town for a party. Only a couple of miles. When picking him up I was nearly home when had saw a cloud of steam as I pulled up at a roundabout. Temp still ok. Got home but too dark to see, though a very acrid smell. Seemed to be coming from the left of the engine rather than the expansion cap. May not get a chance to look in daylight til the weekend but any pointers would be appreciated! HGF, water pipe, anything else?

Hard to say, but that horrible smell usually means exhaust gasses mixed with coolant, :rant: could be a hose split or underfloor pipes, need to look at expansion bottle and under the car for leaks. have you got a level alarm fitted?? Let us know what you find please :yesnod:

If it was smoke not steam, coupled with the acrid smell, it could even be a sticky rear brake calliper.:shrug:

David Aiketgate wrote: If it was smoke not steam, coupled with the acrid smell, it could even be a sticky rear brake calliper.:shrug:

Definitely acrid steam! Expansion bottle nearly empty...

Is the bottle nearly empty whilst hot and pressurised or in the cold?

Quite a few coolant pipes run down that side of the engine, it could just be a loose connection or a split hose, engine cover off, jack it up whilst its cold and less likely to injure you with hot manifolds etc and leave it to replicate the symptoms.

Could be a lot of things but hgf/ inlet manifold gasket doesn't "usually" produce steam as the other side of the failure sucks the air in if anything, the only steam I've seen is when the pressure cap fails or a hose fails. Good luck finding what it is.

Booked in with Jon Norris for a coolant system update (SS pipes + MS ally radiator + any necessary hoses), HG cx (for confidence even if not the cause) and rear left hydragas sphere. Will report back in a couple of weeks with his actual findings...

Reproduced here as this is where the symptoms actually belong! Following on from above symptoms, Jon Norris came last Thursday (for about 12 hours!). Found an "obvious" split hose - the thick one at the front of the engine that is angled (between engine and back of seats area - left side of engine). Also checked visually that it was a proper modded HG - it was. Therefore he recommended not doing a HGF and instead suggested timing belts/cambelts/alternator belt. So ended up doing Radiator and Stainless Pipes + new hose as planned + rear left hydragas sphere changes + all belts. Seemed to bleed ok without car being driven - but was ok on drive.

After Jon left I took the car for a drive. It was due to be a 15 / 20 miles circle, but I only got halfway when I noticed the heater stopped working, then the water temp started rising and then the engine temp started rising, and I could hear the exansion cap hissing. Carried on for a couple of miles but both kept rising so pulled into a layby. Called wife to come with water and a torch and left it to cool until she got there about 20 to 30 minutes later. Expansion bottle was empty and took about 2 litres of water to top up. Drove home the remaining 5 miles or so with everything looking normal.

So, my theories are:

1. Airlock somewhere so needs bleeding properly again - may be due to stuck "jiggle" valve, which I believe is the short hose from expansion bottle to engine? Some sort of ball valve in it?
2. Also could be due to poor expansion cap. I fitted a new one when I topped up the bottle with water (I carried a spare one in the boot).
3. HGF - I REALLY hope its not this as I spent the money that could have been this on the belts instead!!! So really cannot afford a HGF right now...

But desperate to get it back on road! Will need to wait until late next week as I'm at in-laws over Christmas period.

Tsleight wrote: Reproduced here as this is where the symptoms actually belong! Following on from above symptoms, Jon Norris came last Thursday (for about 12 hours!). Found an "obvious" split hose - the thick one at the front of the engine that is angled (between engine and back of seats area - left side of engine). Also checked visually that it was a proper modded HG - it was. Therefore he recommended not doing a HGF and instead suggested timing belts/cambelts/alternator belt. So ended up doing Radiator and Stainless Pipes + new hose as planned + rear left hydragas sphere changes + all belts. Seemed to bleed ok without car being driven - but was ok on drive.

After Jon left I took the car for a drive. It was due to be a 15 / 20 miles circle, but I only got halfway when I noticed the heater stopped working, then the water temp started rising and then the engine temp started rising, and I could hear the exansion cap hissing. Carried on for a couple of miles but both kept rising so pulled into a layby. Called wife to come with water and a torch and left it to cool until she got there about 20 to 30 minutes later. Expansion bottle was empty and took about 2 litres of water to top up. Drove home the remaining 5 miles or so with everything looking normal.

So, my theories are:

1. Airlock somewhere so needs bleeding properly again - may be due to stuck "jiggle" valve, which I believe is the short hose from expansion bottle to engine? Some sort of ball valve in it?
2. Also could be due to poor expansion cap. I fitted a new one when I topped up the bottle with water (I carried a spare one in the boot).
3. HGF - I REALLY hope its not this as I spent the money that could have been this on the belts instead!!! So really cannot afford a HGF right now...

But desperate to get it back on road! Will need to wait until late next week as I'm at in-laws over Christmas period.

any fast/rapid rise in temp is usually air in the coolant system. usually at the engine bleed.
Depending on age of car there will be one possibly two jiggle valves.
The one that often jams is found at the O/s of the head to the right of the inlet manifold,it is possible to take off the small diameter pipe and insert a thin rod to see if the ball is free. If it's working you should be able to take the pipe off with no coolant loss until you push the ball gently into the head. If jammed it will be jammed closed so that no air or coolant can flow through.
To be honest the expansion tank being empty is not good - there is either a lot of air in the system, or you're losing a lot of coolant somewhere.

True! Though the cap was hissing for around half an hour...

Tsleight wrote: True! Though the cap was hissing for around half an hour...

I would firstly fill the expansion tank and try the jiggle, rebleed and then run the engine with the cap off until hot, filling as necessary. Then put a new proper cap on it. :yesnod:

Did as David suggested. Jiggle valve jiggled with a bent bbq skewer, all 3 points bled. Only had short journey since, so I don't know if its cured yet... No obvious signs of a current HGF though. Pictures taken of the relevaant points, but only after the event not during. Was trying to get finished between showers!

Jiggle valve is easy to find, though you may find it easier to reaach by undoing the 2 bolts on the expansion bottle to allow your hand to have easier access. Hose pulls off and you can then insert a suitable prong:


Radiator bleed - note this is a new MS Aluminium radiator - bleed is quite aa rubbishy plastic one!!!


Remove the black plastic cover under the front bonnet and you will see the heater bleed valve on the front bulkhead. Remember to set the heater control to "Fully hot"!


The bleed by the engine is easy to find by looking under the engine cover area from the left hand side, down behind the air filter/throttle body. Its a bit fiddly to get a good flow from here - I found it easier to take the bolt fully out and get a spurt of fluid. However I then dropped said bolt and took 5 minutes trying to find it!!!