My Buzzer is buzzing!!!!!

[virgin26]

Help! you would all have seen my other post on suspension, I have a new problem, my engine was running perfect, nice and smooth when I took it
in to the garage to have the work done on the suspension. Today when I picked up the car the first thing that I noticed was the engine would not turn
over at all, could it be battery! nope, its brand new so i called over one on the guys, and they managed to get it going but said it sounds like hydraulic lock meaning head gasket or some thing, white smoke was coming out the tail pipe, I told him the engine has done under 1k since rebuilt 2 years ago, WTF! I drove home and got stuck on the A406 in a massive jam for 2 hours nose to tail.... I now have grey hair.

I have a V Mad header tank and it kept buzzing so I pulled over to see if I had run out of water, the temperature gauge was in the middle at all times of driving so no over heating problems
The buzzing would stop when you put your foot down, and buzz when idle with a little white smoke at exhaust how bad is this??

My engine was built by GA Classics Engines know as Newark engines, now not trading. I hate giving my car to garages some thing always goes wrong

D

[GTJones]

Just a thought - was the buzzing coming from the header tank? if so it sounds as if it was releaving pressure? - were the hoses stiff when hot? if so it could be either the start of a headgasket failure (pressurising the cooling system)?Does it

Buzz when cold? - if not sounds as if it could be high pressure to me

Gary

[virgin26]

The buzzer is in in the car behind the dash, the hoses were stiff at hot, no buzz at cold

[GTJones]

Hi V

I presume the buzzer is the level warning indicator from the header tank? if so check the level of coolant when cold and again when hot (Careful when removing the pressure cap though) if it is coolant level that would explain when you rev the buzzer stops, this is due to the pump speeding up with the engine revs and pumps the water faster this then goes into the header tank faster than it is being taken out so the level increases (Stops Buzzing) when you are at idle the pump is rotating slower so the volume of water is less being circulated allowing the header tank level to drop?

Just my thought any how
Gary

[flying farmer]

Not necessarily head gasket failure, even if it is a hydraulic lock, it could be inlet manifold gasket failure with water running into the cylinder down the inlet port, I got caught out by this years ago. Payen gaskets have an escape route for water that stops it getting into the cylinders, but a lot of the cheap ones don't.
As a rule, if the system is hissing out air when switched off it is head gasket failure, if the water is dissapearing without any external signs of leakage it is probably inlet manifold gaskets
However, if your engine has done a thousand miles and the head bolts have not been retorqued, they are well overdue for checking. If it has been fitted with payen gaskets the nuts may only go down by one flat, if it has been built with cheap crap then possibly two or three flats, been there done that and found it takes cheap gaskets about 25000 miles to stop compressing
If it has a water level warning buzzer, it is possible that at high revs the water pump is pumping water up into the header tank and raising the level, it is rather dependant on how it is plumbed in and the relative sizes of the inlet and outlet hoses, I have seen similar things happening on some of my header tanks
Neil

[virgin26]

Thanks for all the Replies head bolts were at re torqued at 500 miles and yes I have payen gaskets, maybe V mad can explain the buzzer thingy!!

Gary you are spot on with what you have said

[virgin26]

Not happy with what was meant to be a simple job, now I got to Spend more money on getting the suspension set right and the engine sorted, the car is un drivable the springs are rubbing on the body White smoke at idle, nightmare

[V Mad]

Hi David
The header tank does have a float switch/level sensor, connected to a buzzer to warn you of low coolant level. The tank needs to be about 2/3 full or the buzzer will start to buzz a bit when you drive around. Make sure your coolant is topped up to about 3/4 full or more and it should be completely quiet.