Forum:
Here's an odd one. I've just brought a 91 fourtrak. It needed a new thermostat and I replaced the rad cap as well. But it vents cooling water from somewhere. only when the engine is cooling down, and then not everytime.
Temperature gauge is showing only a little over a third on the scale, and it only vents about 500ml at a time. Any ideas?
its probs a cracked pipe, or
its probs a cracked pipe, or a connection not tight enough.
id just go through the four hoses that come off your radiator and check to see their state. replace the clips with new jubilee clips (ive just done this - the old ones will be shot) and for piece of mind replace the hoses, it will cost about £5 to do and youll get piece of mind.
pw
PM me if you need Sportrak Help..
RAD LEAK
I agree with Paul those old style hose clips that you remove with pliers must go back in exactly the same position and they cut deep in to the hose. Fine if left alone. Putting new jubilee's on may not solve it and can make it worse because of the damage to the hoses by the old clips.
If you can get new hoses then replace them and the clips for gentler Jubilee clips. Check also the tap outlet at the bottom, is the sealing washer dripping when cold yet sealing when hot?. The sump guard will hold the lost water and therefore not show a wet patch. Check the tap through the square cut out on the left looking to ward the car when it is cold. Sounds as if once under pressure and hot the leak seals but the small ones are always the most difficult to locate.
OLDMINIMAN
M J Young
'Jiggle' thermostat.
Did you replace with an exact duplicate thermostat. Daihatsu thermostats usually have a 'jiggle' in their plate to allow water to seep into the engine. Basically its a small hole with a 'jiggle' sticking through. The 'jiggle' has the purpose of ejecting any trapped air, expanded coolant from the engine block.
fourtrak rad problem
hi capt
okay along with the comments made by the other members all correct and valid there is one or two other things to do
1 always, always use anti-freeze helps break down the deposits of muck in the coolent system but before you do that reverse flush the system its a messy job but worth doing as the heater matrix can clog with dirt,rust etc really important in hard water area, turning the water/antifreeze a lovely brown colour and leaving a mud like silt in the expansion tank. this blocks the water ways and doesnt help with the engine cooling or cab heating.
2 when fitting new hoses and clips please use a pure silicon spray to ease the pipes on not washing up liquid or some other spray containing salt as this eats the rubber and alloy and a little silicon grease on the clamps so they donot cut through the pipes or seize when tightened i really do not like these jubilee or spring clamps used today and tend to wrap the pipe in a bit of electrical tape first just to protect it a bit from the shape edges on the clips
3 if after all this you are still getting a leak run it down to your local garage and ask them to pressuerize the system, this will show any leaks on any part of the cooling system and should take about 10 minutes to complete and will show up any leaks from external hoses, gaskets etc
good luck
H
rad problem
Found it, actually caught it leaking. top right had side of rad, behind fan stroud. Thanks for all of you time and ideas
capt microlight