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?
If it was smoke not steam, coupled with the acrid smell, it could even be a sticky rear brake calliper.
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.
True! Though the cap was hissing for around half an hour...