Steve Cornford Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 My coolant has changed colour from clear pink to a cloudy white. What does this mean? Sigma SteVe Edited by - steve cornford on 8 Jun 2010 08:06:28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbird Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Hope I am wrong but it sounds like some oil is getting emulsified into coolant, aka head gasket leaking between water and oil ☹️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-B Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Ummmm, I could be very much mistaken but cloudy *could* indicate oil, which *could* indicate HG failure (or imminent) so I hope I'm wrong. If you take a wee bit out does it feel oily? Any darkness / dark globules in the header tank? If you take a piece of kitchen roll, roll it up and dip into header tank, is there any oily/petrol smell? Any differences in temperature on your temp gauge whilst blatting recently? Does seem very familiar -- I don't think it's a case of TADTS.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangerine Dream Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Most garages can do you a hydrocarbon test on a sample of the water which will prove beyond doubt if it is oil. ================================== R400SV in orange - so far unmodified! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Cornford Posted June 8, 2010 Author Share Posted June 8, 2010 Thanks for the replies. There does not appear to be any globules in the header tank. In the past I have had leaking radiators, and you get left with a white deposit on parts of the chassis where the leaking coolant has gone. It is almost as though that white powder is now in "suspension" in the coolant. It has setteld a bit in the hedaer tank, so now have 2-3 inches of pink and then the cloudy white lower down. Having dipped kitchen roll, there does not appear to be an oily/petrol smell. I have also taken the oil filler cap off and looked inside and there is no sign of "mayonaise" yet. Before Dunsfold it was a bit low on coolant and I did top it up with some "Comma Super Longlife Red" antifreeze diluted 50%, assuming this was the same as the Caterham supplied ready mixed stuff. Sigma SteVe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jingars Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 "I did top it up with some "Comma Super Longlife Red" antifreeze diluted 50%, assuming this was the same as the Caterham supplied ready mixed stuff." I hope you are right - I have just drained and re-filled my coolant with the same. I did this after the advice given at CC Midland's GTKY7 event to replace coolant every two years or so to ensure the corrosion inhibiting was still in effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jingars Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 I did mix it with de-ionised water (sold in the motor factors where I got the Comma) rather than tap water. Bit of a long shot, but did you use tap water to dilute, and could it be some impurities from that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Cornford Posted June 8, 2010 Author Share Posted June 8, 2010 I used tap water Booked in with local garage (400yards away) for a test on Friday morning,as I don't want to drive too far in sage it is HGF. Sigma SteVe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-B Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 wise move, but it is sounding like HGF...which I hope it ain't! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myothercarsa2cv Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Heavy water area? You need some Calgon to break down those limescale deposits! John _________________________ myothercarsa2cv Bugsy: '82 2cv6 😬 Talloulah '08 1.6K Classic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonboylaw Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Heavy water (are you making a Nuclear fission powered Seven?? Deuterium Oxide) or Hard water...? Jonathan My Flickr ----------------------------------- 95% there :) 92 Supersprint, Ford LSD LA, RK AX Crossflow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myothercarsa2cv Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Wondered why I glowed in the morning... John _________________________ myothercarsa2cv Bugsy: '82 2cv6 😬 Talloulah '08 1.6K Classic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jingars Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 Steve, Did you get the car looked over today, and if so what was the diagnosis? Hopefully nothing too drastic/expensive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Cornford Posted June 11, 2010 Author Share Posted June 11, 2010 Just back from the garage. The Hydrocarbon test was negative, so looks as if Head Gasket ok. In their opinion the engine is running far too hot, and when the fan comes on it does not stay on long enough. The cloudy coolant is an indication that it is getting too hot, and needs fluching and replacing. They are recomending fitting a thermostat to the radiator & getting that to switch the fan on & off , rather than the ECU. The fan is working, but just not being switched on enough. What does the POBC think? Sigma SteVe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalongbloke Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 Hi Steve.... Never heard of that. I don't understand why it would indicate excess temp. My understanding is that threre are 2 types of anti freeze... believe one is glycol based (??) don't know about the other. Could you have mixed types? Al;so.. you were (trying) to follow me at Dunsfold on the laps... do you have any film of me as I was directly in front of you? Would be v interested to see... Regards, and hope you can sort it... Andy Check out Hal... http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/dalongbloke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Day Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 ....and at what temperature is it running? If the fan is switched from the ECU then this is the most efficient way to do it: putting a thermoswitch into the rad just introduces something else to go wrong. Is the ECU user programmable? It may be that someone has re-set the on/off values incorrectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Cornford Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 Hi Andy, The camera belongs to a friend, and I am waiting for a copy of any footage taken. I will forward to you when I have it. Hi Mick, Ordinarily I would agree with you, however over the 3 years and 36,000 miles of ownership, I have got through 3 radiators, and maybe the pressure induced by too high temperatures might have had something to with it. I couldn't have had all 3 from the "faulty" batch could I? Also, there seems to be a lot of advice on here to fit a fan control that is simply switched by a thermostat, rather than relying on a themometer that feeds the ECU, and then the ECU switching the a realy on, and that switching the fan on. It is possible that the ECU switch on point is too high and could be adjusted. I will get that checked out in due course, but it was switching off too quickly as well. Any way radiator flushed and alternate fan control fitted. Will try it all out tomorrow with a run from Brighton to Rickmansworth & back. Thank for all the help & support. Sigma SteVe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sigmasmith Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Hi Steve Great news that its not the head gasket Only 3 rads thats good going 😬 Just to add to this, since changing my rad to a radtec everything has been fine but have always turned the heater to max if caught in traffic (whatever the weather 😳) as my fan also never seems to stay on long enough. I think the additional fan switch may be the way to go as I noticed over the weekend that a leak had appeared at the water pump this time after a very stop start journey home. I think its just a case of a leak appearing at the weakest point when overheating. I'm just surprised that the cap (which I've replaced to make sure) doesn't release this pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Cornford Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 Yes, I have been doing that as well ( one does get a bit though) Sigma SteVe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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