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Seg

New member
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
Messages
215
Location
Leeds
Renamed Segs

Hi guys.

First post, so please go easy on me. Just bought the missus a pacific green 1.7 cat at the weekend. Nowt fancy or owt, bit of rust developing over arches, but nowt too bad. When we went to look at it, the guy had just driven 15 miles and upon our arrival the bonnet was up and the expansion tank was bubbling. After it settled down, I took it for a spin and booooommmmmm. Loved it, snappy and agile. Anyway, pulled back up and I thought must be just an airlock.
We ended up buying the little beast. £380, full MOT, new clutch and four decent tyres. Never got chance to have a look over it over the weekend because of the rain so it has just been stood. Had a look today and the usuall suspect is there, no heat from heater, so I replaced the hcv and attempted to bleed and remove any airlocks. Well after 10-15 mins coolant began leaking out of the back of the expansion tank. Immediately turned off, waited 10 mins then removed the expansion bottle to inspect and low and behold, somebody has drilled 4 holes in the back.
Does anyone know why somebody would do this? would this contribute to having no heat. I have another one on order, should be here tomorrow.

Any thoughts and insights very much welcomed.

Thanks

Seg
 
Whaaaaa....I almost wanna ask are you joking..

I would say yes...this would contribute it having no heat, as there is air in the system!

When you get your new tank, do a complete coolant change, might be worth changing the thermostat too, only cheap, removing all air locks. I normally put the heaters on hot and the blowers on..(just what I was taught, not sure if you actually have to) when complete, leave it running until the cooling fans kick in..hopefully they will...then ENJOY
 
Someone trying to release pressure from a suspect airlock in the system!!

Not a good way to do it as will not allow water pressure to build up to correct level needed for heater etc, it will however prevent a suspect head gasket from blowing completely.....dodgey, very dodgey.
 
I will be blatantly honest with you, they sold it because it had major issues, congratulations on buying a lemon
 
Hey Hardmonkeys.
I wish I was joking, couldn't believe my eyes. I got the thermostat today, but run out of time to get it put in. Might have to wait till weekend, but the missus is gagging to drive it (suppose you can't drive it if its broke, eager beaver). I have checked the oil and no sign of any sludge same with coolant, so not thinking about hgf yet. Just hoping the new expansion tank sorts it out.

God these machines are sexy. Can't believe I never thought of getting one sooner.
 
Might just aswell left the cap off ,i would be very wary,personally fit new tank,fill with water,and bleed system allow to tick over for a good hour,check temp,check all coolant pipes are hot and heater works,if something is wrong it will show up ,if all is ok do a coolant change and take it for a good drive and see what happens,make sure you have some sort of breakdown cover aswell.
 
Ok. So what is the worst case scenario here?

What would be the reason to drill the expansion tank? What effect would it have? Cant seem to find anything online about tanks being drilled.

Just looking through paperwork we got with it and the head gasket and cam belt were change 4 years ago.

Starting to think I should have just put the time and effort into getting our v reg focus through a test.
 
Hi seg..

By drilling the expansion tank, some kind soul has ensured that no pressure builds up in the cooling system.

This has almost certainly been done to mask another problem.

possibly a leaky joint. possibly much more (head gasket!)

The advice martinthrapston (snappy name ;-)) has offered is the best way to find out.

Ill keep my fingers crossed for you...

Stu..
 
Thanks for your replies guys.

Here is the item in question:

Must say my heart has sank into my socks now. Has anyone heard of this sort of thing being done before?
 
Sealed coolant system are just that,sealed,leave the cap off and drive you will lose coolant,drill holes in coolant tank,once again its no longer a sealed system,you will lose water,its hiding a reason and you need to find that reason before changing parts on whim/impulse.it is not standard practice to do that,what a cowboy!!!!!
 
as theres no residue around the holes i recon this has been done very recently (ie to get shut of the car)
Its what we in the trade call - A Cnuts Trick. :evil:

my fingers are still crossed...
 
Definately right with the cowboy comment Martin. Proper wounded now. Don't really have loads of money to throw at a car at the moment and the other half needs a motor for work.
I've never heard of it before Hardmonkeys.

Yeah it does look like they are relatively new trublustu

Here's to hoping it's not too bad.
 
Flying Scotsman said:
adampuma said:
I will be blatantly honest with you, they sold it because it had major issues, congratulations on buying a lemon

Care to explain all these issues?

Must admit adampuma proper knocked any optimism out of me with that one.

Would the coolant be drained or radiator removed for a clutch change as it has had one done before I bought it apparently. Just wondering if they didnt bleed the system before I bought it.

Seg
 
Best thing I can say is pretty much emulating others.

Put the new tank one, fill it up, run it, keep topping up till the system is full but have a good check around the engine bay as the engines running. If you have a tarp, lay it underneath for any obvious leaks to identify the sort of area.

Where are you located?
 

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