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My car spewed up some coolant
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:42 pm
by Welly
I probably over-filled the header tank recently (and for no good reason because the water never moves) but after a good run on Friday night at our local [s]race track [/s]by pass I found on Saturday morning it had coughed up some coolant from the pressurised cap (about half a cup full).
The question is...Just where is the FULL LINE on these bottles? there is a sort of plastic cup thing inside when you take the cap off but do you fill up to the bottom of the cup or half or what?
I was a bit surprised it spewed it and I was a bit worried the system pressure must have gone really high (hope it's not damaged the heater matrix?)
You obviously need a good air gap above the water line here to stop this over-pressurising.
Welly.
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:45 pm
by jameslxdt
theres a valve in the expansion tank cap to prevent system pressure going to high
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:46 pm
by darrenwall
i fill mine upto the bottom of the plastic "cup " cos u need a bit of room for the water to expand when its hot which only happens about the 90 degree mark ( so i was told ) thats probably why it happened when you was racing up your local test track

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:47 pm
by darrenwall
jameslxdt wrote:theres a valve in the expansion tank cap to prevent system pressure going to high
i think that the valve is set at around 1 bar to stop the pipes blowing off
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:53 pm
by Welly
Cheers for that, hopefull no damage done then.
The stupid manual should say where the level is supposed to be

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:57 pm
by mjb
I just over-fill mine cos it's dark in the mornings when I do it so I can't see how much water I'm sploshing down there
Thankfully(!!!) mine has a built-in pressure release mechanism at the bottom of the radiator. It's the
High-pressure
Opening
Liquid
Egress system...

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:43 am
by Welly

You nutter.
M, I thought it was pretty cheap to replace the rad on yours? I'm sure michealjclark did his a while back on here?????
Edit* here's the thread about it
viewtopic.php?t=1428&start=15&postdays= ... highlight=
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:58 am
by Blue406
Welton wrote:Cheers for that, hopefull no damage done then.
The stupid manual should say where the level is supposed to be

It does! At least on the D8 petrol where there are two little "steps / Shelves" inside the filler for the coolant and the level should be between the lower step and the upper.
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:53 am
by mjb
Welton wrote:
You nutter.
M, I thought it was pretty cheap to replace the rad on yours? I'm sure michealjclark did his a while back on here?????
Yeah I've looked at it - I can get one off ebay for about £70 which really shouldn't be a problem to replace myself providing I can find a day when I'm not driving it ;) I can live with the
Liquid
Egress
Aggregation
Kit though - I need to find the money to get the cambelt changed first! (I really need a new job!)
Still toying with the idea of using rad-weld though, but it really does put shivers up my spine to think there's the slightest possibility it could block the heater matrix or worse the coolant channels in the engine
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:27 am
by Welly
I think if it was me I would fix the rad first, you've seen the cambelt and thought it looked in fairly good condition for now.
In the summer the coolant pressure will be slightly higher, for longer, and I would hate for the rad to 'let go' on the motorway for instance.
If that happened you could cook the engine which would be just as bad as the cam belt snapping anyway
