Overheating issues

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Rossouw
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Overheating issues

Post by Rossouw » Thu 25 May 2017, 14:01

I have a ford 3.0 v6 essex, that keeps overheating. The water rapidly drains from the radiator but there are no visible leaks. I'm thinking head gasket.

Any ideas/advice on what this might be?

Thanks!

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barrydorr
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Re: Overheating issues

Post by barrydorr » Thu 25 May 2017, 14:25

You might even have some cracks in your head...if you are loosing water and dont know were it goes it is time to lift the head and investigate before it makes too much damage
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ZA Perana
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Re: Overheating issues

Post by ZA Perana » Thu 25 May 2017, 16:02

barrydorr wrote:
Thu 25 May 2017, 14:25
You might even have some cracks in your head...if you are loosing water and dont know were it goes it is time to lift the head and investigate before it makes too much damage
If the water isn't visibly leaking then yes I would guess head gasket and as Barry says, possibly a cracked block, which would be possible if the engine has overheated severely.

Does the radiator drain completely?
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KSF
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Re: Overheating issues

Post by KSF » Thu 25 May 2017, 16:51

Its probably the gaskets. You can test it in a few ways: Sample of the water to be tested by radiator guys for combustion products. If positive, gaskets probably blown.

Do a compression test, see if some cylinders are down.

Another test is to fill your radiator (best when it is cold and also best to remove the thermostat before this test) all the way to the top. Start the engine up and let fast idle for a bit to get rid of any residual air in the system. Then give it a few revs with wide-ish throttle, ie let it rev up quickly. See if any water/air shoots out the radiator (if will in a bad case) or if any large airbubbles form in the water.


Be carefull with a V6 that got properly hot. If it ever went all the way into red and /or got so hot that it started to ping under load, then you may need to strip down to check a few things to be safe. At those temperatures their top compression rings go soft quickly, the pistons may scuff the sleeves and very important: Their cam bushes like to melt. They don't seize and smear, the soft white metal just melts and because of how their oil galleries are arranged, the molten metal ends up in the crank and crank bearings. Either in little pieces or as a big lump that block flow to the crank. That is a very big failure ready to happen in future.

getafix
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Re: Overheating issues

Post by getafix » Wed 06 Jun 2018, 20:03

Expert advice needed -

So tonight on my comute home, standing at the traffic light engine shudders, very rough idle and a big cloud of white exhaust behind me 8O . Nursed it home - only a click or so - no power - rough running and again a big cloud of smoke as I pull into driveway after waiting a couple of secs for gate to do the opening thing. Couple of checks - coolant way down, just about on minimum mark, was full this morning when I checked, engine oil is ok - no milk. So after 30 mins or so - coolant down some more. Starts ok - rough idle though - #3 cylinder not firing - did the plug wire pull - some pieces of carbon came flying out of exhaust - smallish. So my gut feeling is head gasket fail between cylinder and coolant channel. Am I staring down the right rabbit hole? :?:

FYI - was a fong kong gasket :oops: I put on a while back when W plate - carb diffuser - came apart and went thru engine - could not find Payen gasket in the area and had to get the car running ASAP.

Any other checks to do before opening up?

Appreciated.
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Can-Am ZN
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Re: Overheating issues

Post by Can-Am ZN » Thu 07 Jun 2018, 10:48

getafix wrote:
Wed 06 Jun 2018, 20:03
Expert advice needed -

So tonight on my comute home, standing at the traffic light engine shudders, very rough idle and a big cloud of white exhaust behind me 8O . Nursed it home - only a click or so - no power - rough running and again a big cloud of smoke as I pull into driveway after waiting a couple of secs for gate to do the opening thing. Couple of checks - coolant way down, just about on minimum mark, was full this morning when I checked, engine oil is ok - no milk. So after 30 mins or so - coolant down some more. Starts ok - rough idle though - #3 cylinder not firing - did the plug wire pull - some pieces of carbon came flying out of exhaust - smallish. So my gut feeling is head gasket fail between cylinder and coolant channel. Am I staring down the right rabbit hole? :?:

FYI - was a fong kong gasket :oops: I put on a while back when W plate - carb diffuser - came apart and went thru engine - could not find Payen gasket in the area and had to get the car running ASAP.

Any other checks to do before opening up?

Appreciated.
Yes, what you describe is indicative of a gasket having blown through between water port and the combustion chamber...the white smoke is water being burnt in the combustion chamber and of course this will cause it to misfire on that cylinder.
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