samcooke Posted July 29, 2002 Posted July 29, 2002 I'm losing coolant. I've checked all the hoses, tightened all the clips had a good look under the car whilst it's running hot and can only assume it's evaporating off somewhere. There's no expansion tank on the car, just above the top hose and below the filler cap there's a little pipe that dumps to the road - I guess this is the problem. What should the set up be? Quote
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted July 29, 2002 Posted July 29, 2002 Is the filler cap you mention on the thermostat housing or the radiator? John Quote
stu999 Posted July 29, 2002 Posted July 29, 2002 Sam, get an expansion tank fitted. My Xflow was forever dumping water out of the engine at high revs-to the point where I would have to put a considerable amount in every time I used the car, and was costing me a fortune in antifreeze. Once the tank was fitted I have only ever topped up once. Problem solved. I obtained a tank off a Sherpa van (nice) and found a T piece that allowed me to connect the 1/2 inch pipe to the top hose (mk3 escort if memory serves). I mounted the tank as high as possible and joined with suitable tubing to the top hose. If yours is like mine, the filler/thermostat housing needs the pressure cap changed for a flat cap, with the pressure cap fitted to the tank. The thermostat housing also has a overflow outlet, which I connected to the bleed pipe on the tank. Really worth the effort and works a treat! Quote
samcooke Posted July 30, 2002 Author Posted July 30, 2002 John, Is the filler cap you mention on the thermostat housing or the radiator? Thermo housing on the front of the block. stu, Sounds easy enough. Is your tank above the top hose? I've got lowline narrow bodywork and the only place I could possibly squeeze it is between the rad and the engine, but it would be lower than the current filler. Quote
furtive Posted July 30, 2002 Posted July 30, 2002 Sam I too loose coolant (as demonstrated at Bentwaters). I plan to (get NickM to) replace the rad with a Polo one and fit an expansion tank to solve my problems. Quote
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted July 30, 2002 Posted July 30, 2002 If the rad cap is on the thermostat housing, replace it with a blanking cap and pipe the overflow pipe from the thermostat housing to a Triumph Dolomite or similar expansion tank on the bulkhead. Fit the pressurised rad cap to this tank. This expansion tank has an overflow and a single inlet at the bottom. I get no coolant loss whatsoever with this setup. John Quote
samcooke Posted July 30, 2002 Author Posted July 30, 2002 OK, so... Blank the current filler cap on top of the thermostat housing. Run the overflow pipe that sits just below this cap and above the top hose to the bottom of an expansion tank so the coolant enters and leaves the expansion tank by the same hose. Then fit a pressure cap to the expansion tank. Right? Bearing in mind that I'm a bit thick - is this better than just leaving the pressure cap where it is and running the overflow hose to a sealed tank of some kind? When my coolant is full the running and under bonnet temps are fine (85 odd). Quote
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted July 30, 2002 Posted July 30, 2002 Exactly right. You can probably just about make out my setup from the picture below. You can just see the expansion tank on the very left with the inlet / outlet pipe at the bottom. This pipe runs across the top of my inlet manifold shrouded in some convulated wiring harness tubing for protection. The large pipe on top of the engine is my oil breather so ignore that one. Sorry it all looks a bit blurred into one. Note the round blanking cap on the thermostat housing. John Quote
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted July 30, 2002 Posted July 30, 2002 Sam, I have a better picture than that above but its not on the web for general posting. i can email it but your email function doesnt work. Send me your email address and I'll send it to you. John Quote
samcooke Posted July 30, 2002 Author Posted July 30, 2002 Received it OK, thanks for that. Last question: Where does the hose from the top of the expansion tank go to? Looks tidy in there, btw, lots of nice bits Quote
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted July 30, 2002 Posted July 30, 2002 Its just an overflow pipe which goes down to the floor. John Quote
stu999 Posted July 30, 2002 Posted July 30, 2002 Sam, my tank is mounted in virtually identical place to John's. The main difference between mine and the picture is that the bottom outlet off the tank on mine is 1/2 inch hose (hence the requirement for a 'T' into the top hose) but this allows me to fill the system from the tank. Otherwise it will work exactly the same. Quote
samcooke Posted August 22, 2002 Author Posted August 22, 2002 Just got round to finding a suitable tank - went for the dolomite one - and have a couple more questions: Where can I get a blanking cap for the top of my thermostat housing, or can I modify my pressure one? Any tips on cleaning out the inside of the expansion tank - its scuzzy. Thanks Quote
studbuckle Posted August 22, 2002 Posted August 22, 2002 Just to throw my small spanner in the works... I have a pressure cap on the thermostat housing that release the water pressure into a semi sealed expansion tank. By semi-sealed I mean the hose from the block is submeressed in the water of the tank but the tank cap itself has breather holes in it. this setup works fine now i've sorted it out and might save out a little bit of work Quote
Bananaman Posted August 22, 2002 Posted August 22, 2002 Simon What the F*** is that hat? This picture makes you look like an American I will send you a pic taken from the rear form last sat, it's Ok apart from the dead flies on the screen. Andy P.S. LSD arrived so will be up your neck of the woods next Thursday evening! Quote
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