radiator problem :(

[cardiffboy27]

hey folks my radiator has been doing some strange things and i wonder if you guys can help me find the fault?
i top up with water and everything is fine for a few hours temp stays down just below half way and everything is grand!
then when it wants to there is a hissing sound from what i think is the cap letting out pressure. this will happen about every 10 mins till the rad is almost dry. the fan is kicking in like normal and seems to be running at a good temp
any ideas on this
plz help its driving me crazy
cheers in advance all
Ian :k12white:

 

[AMY]

Your either loosing water somewhere or you have a headgasket problem. Run the car until it is hot and check for any leaks, is there water coming out past the rad cap? Take the oil filler cap off and check what colour it is on the underside, if it's covered in white gunk it's definately the head gasket.

 

[cardiffboy27]

found problem i hope

i found a cracked flexi pipe that was going in the the heater matrixso upon replacing it the plastic hose on the matrix snaped (arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh)
i have bypassed the matrix for now and hope that will sort it out untill i get time to fix it propper it just means i have no heaters at the moment.

i had a flick through the hayens manual and it looks like a horrid job to replace the matrix but if there is no heaters then the other half will only moan!
ill take the car for a drive soon and see how things go
cheers aill

 

[SammoHung]

Maximum smpathy..I feel your pain!

better than a head gasket problem though.....

 

[sonic]

Make her wear 2 pairs of socks if she's cold lol.

 

[Fordy]

Take the oil filler cap off and check what colour it is on the underside, if it's covered in white gunk it's definately the head gasket.

if you have white/brown gunk then it could also be you have a blocked breather pipe and not a headgasket fault

 

[cardiffboy27]

well it all seems to be running fine now i was stuck in traffic for an hour and no problems as for the other half being cold im going to pick up one of these tomrow

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48775&criteria=Accessories&doy=14m11

job done till it gets warmer then ill sort it out
cheers all

 

[sonic]

thats ideal, I wonder how long it takes to warm the element up.

 

[ollie240585]

My mate had one of them in his mondeo,

they're about as much use as a chocolate teapot!!!

They let out hardly any heat!!! Don't expect much from them!!

 

[Andrew]

better than a head gasket problem though.....

TBH, I think it's less effort doing the headgasket... at least getting hold of the parts is easier.