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Over heating

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Trevor Triumph

Jedi Knight
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I put the engine back in the car with new rings, bearings, seals and gaskets, and a new thermostat, but the same water pump, radiator hoses and such. The temperature gauge registers about a quarter of the travel and stays that way for a while. Then, the needle moves up about mid travel, then a bit higher, and I smell coolant. The coolant line from the radiator fill to the overflow is loose and coolant is gurgling into the overflow tank. The gauge is not pegged, but I don't know what to do. The temperature when it was boiling over was 166 at the thermostat housing, 228 at the inlet and 184 at the outlet. "Help me Obi-wan, you're my only hope!" T.T.
 
[ QUOTE ]
...coolant is gurgling into the overflow tank. The gauge is not pegged, but I don't know what to do. The temperature when it was boiling over was 166...

[/ QUOTE ]

I suspect that it is not boiling but rather you have exhaust gases leaking into the coolant jacket. There is a test that can confirm this - the coolant can be 'sniffed' to detect if exhaust gases are present.

What happened to cause this? Could be that the head gasket was faulty or something got caught in there or the gasket was not adequately or evenly torqued.
 
Hello Trevor,
my first reaction is that the radiator cap needs replacing.
I'm puzzled by your temperature readings? 166 at the thermostat is fine, how do you get 228 at the inlet (I presume you mean radiator inlet) which is 10" away?

Alec
 
Trevor,
If I read your problem correctly, this is a normal condition. With a full, cold system, the coolant, since it is not compressible, has to go somewhere as it expands with heat. The expansion will easily exceed the cap pressure setting. It is not uncommon for 1/2 quart or more to be expelled into the expansion tank as the system heats up. This excess coolant would normally be drawn back into the system as the engine cools.

"The coolant line from the radiator fill to the overflow is loose". I'm not sure why you have it loose, but under normal conditions with it tight, everything should be OK.
D
 
I took the word of the cute young woman at the local Checker Store and bought the 7lb. radiator cap. I looked in my Haynes manual; it says 13lb. I wonder if that could be part of the problem. The temp. gauge does not register overly hot, but I smell coolant and there is a lot of boiling sound as the coolant goes into the overflow container. This time all the coolant lines are tight and I'm not finding coolant around the cap or the overflow lead pipe. T.T.
 
Trevor, I would guess that the 7lb cap is your entire problem. The boiling point increases with pressure, and you are only running half the pressure you should be. Get the correct cap, and see what happens.
Next time, buy the stuff from the ugly guy behind the counter! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Jeff
 
In the world of British cars, don't trust parts women or guys under 40.

Generally, only trust a guy who looks like Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future.
 
Let us know... but I will be truly surprised if a 13# cap makes any difference to your problem. I personally like a lower pressure cap if the radiator is old, but a TR3 only had a 4# cap originally so I leave it like that.

The temperatures you mention don't sound hot enough to boil an egg, much less your coolant. I still wonder if the 'gurgling' you mentioned was 'air' being pushed from the engine into the overflow tank.
 
I put the 13lb. cap on the radiator. The gauge read about 3/4 of the travel and the overflow was full. During the time it took to close the bonnet and get back in the car, and as I drove off the gauge immediately registered a lower temperature. I stopped for about five minutes and most of the coolant returned to the system from the overflow. No aroma of coolant the rest of the ten mile trip and the gauge stayed with the middle half of the needle travel. Could a faulty temp sender, thermostat, or gauge play such tricks? I will say that everything worked fine with the old, previous engine, an 1147cc. model.
 
You will curse the day you forgot to put on NEW hoses!!!
Take it from me , there is no anger worse than the coolant demons have for a lazy mechanic. Dont wait another second, they are hunting you now and plotting a terrible revenge!!!
MD(mad dog)
 
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