Overflowing coolant

Novice1 · Postby **Novice1** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:09 pm

Possible causes. Even after a short drive 20 mts at normal driving speeds my car when I stop bubbles over coolant from the reservoir. How much enough to have to use a towel to soak it up.
Thermostat was replaced last year as was water pump. Car is turbocharged, with intercooler.
The dash temperature gauge doesn't give any indication of engine overheating.
Help!
Cheers Novice1

Garry · Postby **Garry** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:12 pm

Hows your radiator cap and your head gasket?

Novice1 · Postby **Novice1** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:21 pm

Garry wrote:Hows your radiator cap and your head gasket?

Radiator cap is fine. Head gasket hmm, no loss of power noted.

Cheers Novice1

Uncle Arthur · Postby **Uncle Arthur** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:48 pm

Novice1 wrote:
Garry wrote:Hows your radiator cap and your head gasket?

Radiator cap is fine. Head gasket hmm, no loss of power noted.

Cheers Novice1

You don't have to lose power to have a slight leak of hot boost into the system - enough to pressurise, but not enough to boil..... remembering also the MX5 temp gauge allegedly has a dead spot in the middle.

Postby **Okibi** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:21 am

I'd try a different radiator cap and pray that it solves the problem.

Heat is bad juju hope your head hasn't turned bendy.

Fingers crossed it's not an expensive fix.

timk · Postby **timk** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:38 am

Do the fans kick in when you are sitting in traffic etc?

Novice1 · Postby **Novice1** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:07 pm

Okibi wrote:I'd try a different radiator cap and pray that it solves the problem.

Heat is bad juju hope your head hasn't turned bendy.

Fingers crossed it's not an expensive fix.

Its now at the mechanics. May know more tomorrow. I, am praying its something inexpensive.
Cheers Novice1

Novice1 · Postby **Novice1** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:09 pm

saboteur wrote:Do the fans kick in when you are sitting in traffic etc?

No idea. I am led to believe that both fans are not always on and to do so would require engine management system to set parameters as to when and at what temperature both fans engage.

Cheers Novice1

timk · Postby **timk** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:32 pm

You should be able to do some logic stuff on the E8's A/C fan output, so have it "OR" when the air conditioner is active or the engine temp is above x. It's a pretty standard feature.

Novice1 · Postby **Novice1** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:48 pm

saboteur wrote:You should be able to do some logic stuff on the E8's A/C fan output, so have it "OR" when the air conditioner is active or the engine temp is above x. It's a pretty standard feature.

Thanks:
I, am tempted to go with a different tuner, who says he can "unlock" my current tune. Starting to retune from scratch tho would be very costly and I have already spent a small fortune on tuning.
Car as just had retune and its not as good as an early tune.
Turbos...........blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
New sparco seat, new springs, retune and the car rolls over on me, bloody typical:)
Cheers Novice1

Forced Fives · Postby **Forced Fives** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:04 am

I had the same problem a few weeks ago with my Turbo car. I think the cap was 1.1bar and not very old and it just stopped doing the job and the coolant would mainly overflow once the engine stopped and the cirulation stopped. I relaced the cap with a new 1.3bar cap and no further issues.

Good luck.

Novice1 · Postby **Novice1** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:49 pm

Forced Fives wrote:I had the same problem a few weeks ago with my Turbo car. I think the cap was 1.1bar and not very old and it just stopped doing the job and the coolant would mainly overflow once the engine stopped and the cirulation stopped. I relaced the cap with a new 1.3bar cap and no further issues.

Good luck.

Well, the good news is that after pressure test found to be normal. No leaks detected. Driving it on the highway several times they were unable to reproduce the car overheating and measured temperatures were normal. They think it may just be the radiator cap...........God I hope so.
Cheers Novice1

Steampunk · Postby **Steampunk** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:44 pm

I have a rad cap you can have if you want to try it out and eliminate that as the possible culprit.

Novice1 · Postby **Novice1** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:20 pm

1red5 wrote:I have a rad cap you can have if you want to try it out and eliminate that as the possible culprit.

Thanks Andrew. I, did actually look at the radiator cap and cleaned some sludge off it that didn't look like coolant prior to taking it to the mechanics. Other than that no leaks from the cap itself.
If, a mechanic shop can't replace a radiator cap I am in deep sh*t.
Cheers Novice1

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 12:33 pm

Novice1 wrote:I, am tempted to go with a different tuner, who says he can "unlock" my current tune. Starting to retune from scratch tho would be very costly and I have already spent a small fortune on tuning. Car has just had retune and its not as good as an early tune.

Ron, it sounds like you weren't able to resolve that locked ECU issue you had late last year?