Overheating - Water Pump Or Not?

astra22bertoneauto

IMO I would say there is engine damage poss a piston has broken up a bit, maybe damaged a bore and/or caused the head gasket to go.

Reason i say this is because you've said you're burning lots of oil and its overheating. You could try changing the thermostat but that wont help the oil burning issue.

I may be wrong.....

MikeS

first picture of coolant tank

coolant expansion tank to go like that usually happens when someone loosens the top when the engine is red hot, never seen it go like that by itself from being half full

oki take the cap off the expansion tank and run the engine from cold, keep an eye on the coolant, in theory any air blocks will work there way out

Sarah

I took it to the garage this morning for some tests and it conked out on the way there, losing half the coolant. I put some more in, managed to get it started again and by the time I got to the garage a few minutes later the coolant low warning was on again. It doesn't look good, they are going to call me as soon as they know what it is.

IDI_AMIN

T he more i think about it My brother was having similar symptoms to you no heat and losing a lot of water engine was constantly overheating as well as cutting out would not start till it cooled down .It turned out the head gasket on the engine had gone this could be a possibility plus you have other engine related problems.Brace yourself.:arghh:

si_c1978

thermostats are funny old beasts, from my old research they partially open at around 86 degrees then fully open at 110 degrees (iirc) you can test this with a thermometer and boiling water in theory. dunno if that helps at all tho.......

astra22bertoneauto

si.c1978 said:
thermostats are funny old beasts, from my old research they partially open at around 86 degrees then fully open at 110 degrees (iirc) you can test this with a thermometer and boiling water in theory. dunno if that helps at all tho.......

Funny enough Si I was doing this a few weeks ago at college so your theory is correct.

Sarah

I have prepared myself for bad news. After all the problems in the last few days, cutting out on the way there, plus the smoking engine, I could well be selling it for scrap.🙁

si_c1978

fingers crossed for you......

Sarah

Thermostat is fine, so it's got to be the water pump. Whether it's worth spending the money because of the smoking, nobody knows, its' the six million dollar question, but even if it gets us back on the road for a few months it'll be worth it.

MikeS

usually you can smell coolant being burnt off

smells sweet and sickly and gives off a green haze of smoke in my experience

why dont you think it is the head gasket

Sarah

I presume the garage have tested the head gasket, I've now paid two mechanics to diagnose the problem, but I'll ask them when I go and pick it up.

Sarah

I collected it from the garage and he said he doesn't think it's the head gasket because it's not losing that much water. He also said the only way to tell if it is definitely the water pump is take it out and see if the propellor thing is broken.
As soon as I turned the key, the coolant level warning came up so they must have left it low as there wasn't a puddle under the car. I took the cap off the expansion tank to put more in and noticed there is now gunk in the bottle. When I dropped it off yesterday the fluid was clean and I've never seen gunk in the bottle before, is this a sign of the head gasket going?

IDI_AMIN

It could just be needing a clean out. maybe this gunk is causing your problem.you should flush it out, put a water hose in the radiator filler cap remove bottom hose from radiator let water run through for 5 minutes see what comes out and then take it from there. your husband may have to do this for you as i don't see you doing this. also check under oil filler cap if you have white cream like mayonnaise under cap then you know its head gasket.What did mechanic say is wrong? he must have given some kind of diagnosis otherwise what did he charge you for

Sarah

The water was clear until I took it to the garage! He hasn't given me a definite diagnosis, he just tested for leaks and tested the thermostat and said the thermostat was working. I didn't want them to take the water pump out until the thermostat had been tested because to replace it would have been £250 which I don't have at the moment. He also said he was worried about the smoke. I'll go and look under the oil filler cap now, thanks.

Sarah

There is no white cream under the oil filler cap, but what's in the water bottle feels like oil, plus there are some other bits floating around that look like grass or twigs, I don't know where that would have come from!

IDI_AMIN

That looks like sewage :wtf: it definitely needs a flush out , maybe its causing a blockage so i would do that .if it has twigs and things in there this could be causing your water pump to not function properly .if your lucky this will solve your problem. a flush is a must

MikeS

what does it smell like ?

can you smell petrol or oil ?

other than the obvious it could be a corroded heater matrix, the other bits look like the remainders of the thermostat seal

hmm might be worth taking off the air intake pipe and check if there is any gunk in the throttle body or inlet manifold

cos be reason why your smoking also

Sarah

I can smell antifreeze! I took it back down to the garage on husband's instruction and they took one look in the bottle and said that's it, the head gasket has gone. There is also water on the dipstick.

vocky

seems strange that there was no oil and water mix before it went to the garage, I have yet to hear of a head gasket failing during normal use.

However it is possible that the water pump has failed and then the over-heating has blown the head gasket.

Get them to change the water pump whilst doing the other work, it will only add one hour maximum to the labour bill and a water pump is roughly £60-70

Sarah

I presume that running the engine to get it hot finished it off. The garage seemed to think that the car was beyond repair, they didn't even discuss repairing it. If it's going to cost £250 to replace the water pump, how much extra am I looking at to repair the head gasket?

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