My car has been acting a bit strange over the last couple of months whereby if I drive it normally the temp guage sits around the 78-79 mark. As soon as I give it a decent gassing and this can be on a motorway at a speed where ventilation is not a problem, the temp guage at times is oscillating wildly from that level up to the lower 90’s and then will virtually race down below the average to about 76 degrees and if I cool things off the car will then return to its normal temperature of 78-79.
I don’t recall this ever happening, and the only “change” to it has been the front end repair I had following my off at Brands, which resulted in mainly cosmetic damage but also the radiator had to be replaced.
Checks to date have included a replaced header tank cap and a look at the fluids for contamination, but there has been none. Any thoughts wil be appreciated.
Sounds like the blue sender (located at rear LHS of cylinder head)for the stack display may be on the blink - it is quite a common problem with all Ks.
As Sean says could well be an airlock - have you bled the radiator through its bleed screw? - try to raise this corner when you do this.
Guys, I got the call yesterday and it was not that pleasant. The cooling system was bled and the temp sender replaced and the issue remains…so my mechanic has concluded it is the beginning of dreaded head gasket failure. Quite disappointed as I am always super careful about revving a cold car etc and the 'ol blue beast only has 25 thou on the clock?
There continues to be no sign of contamination so he says it is likely the failure is “blow” from a cylinder into the colling system. Your thoughts…
Are you SURE it is not a bad earth? Does it change (temp reading rise a few degrees) when you turn the fan on?? If it does, it is probably electrical…especially as you are so careful with a cold engine.
Thats not a bad call actually. To rule it out, take a set of jumps leads straight from the engine block to battery negative post. Have seen the gearbox earth strip corrode through a couple of times, as its in a loose fitting plastic sleeve that colloects water, and the earthing washer onto the chassis by the gearbox should have a shaped washer to spread the load
Yeah I would also check the earth… at least I would be investigating a lot more thoroughly before onsidering pulling a potentially healthy engine to bits.
More news came back today and its a lot worse. The head went off for skimming and pressure testing and it turns out the head is porous which has created a hairline weakness that failed pressure testing. I’m looking at a new head.
I’ve got a long service history with Lakeside Engineering and Max is kindly looking at alternative options, as going to Lotus for a head is very pricy. We both agreed putting the request out to you all in regard to a quality and reasonably priced head" would be a wise step before we go further…so this is where I am…
Can anyone help?
Thatwas not the best phonecall to end my day…
Nick
Sorry to hear that Nick Still, at least you can fix it before the damage got to ruining the whole engine
New heads aren’t TOO expensive to come by and you can do all the right stuff now (steel dowels, PRRT, fire-ring peening, MLS gasket, uprated oil rail) to ensure that the HGF risk is all-but eliminated for the future
[quote=Esprit]Sorry to hear that Nick Still, at least you can fix it before the damage got to ruining the whole engine
New heads aren’t TOO expensive to come by and you can do all the right stuff now (steel dowels, PRRT, fire-ring peening, MLS gasket, uprated oil rail) to ensure that the HGF risk is all-but eliminated for the future [/quote]
Agreed - turn the negative into a positive! Good luck.
The latest is that my head went to Dave Andrews for peening and hardness testing. The good news is that hardness was fine and Dave peened the fire rings. He’s been very helpful. It is currently on the way back to Max and Tim at Lakeside to re-assemble. They’ll also be checking liner height before offering head back to the block as heights are known to vary, which may be cause for further HGFs…something I really want to avoid at this point…
