Over heating

[Harold74]

Can anyone help??
After a trouble free 5 hour round trip to Bicester for a show two weeks ago, this weekend I topped up the water & oil this weekend and changed the plugs & leads ready for the Bank Holiday weekend.
As a novice I got two leads in the wrong firing order got a bit over popping and spluttering, then checked the order & got them right and it fired up really nice running best for ages, then out of know where the heat gauge went rapidly to the top, luckily I was only going around the block so turned it off with a load of steam.
It has never gone over half before and I have done some very long trips in hot weather before.

I then after some advice took out the thermostat and tried it with no luck, after a lot of fettling & cut hands, I got the bottom hose off and flushed the system with a garden hose from the top hose, the water came through after about 30 seconds and drained away through the rad into the pan,
I have ordered a new Thermostat and bottom hose (as destroyed the old hose, in getting it off)

Has any one got any ideas what next? how do I check the water pump is working OK?

Gutted, great weekend to go out and its stuck on the drive not going anywhere!
Any advice would be most welcolm

[richardthestag]

to overheat suddenly like that it does sound like water pump dare I say it. unless you have the mother of all airlock. You could test the old thermostat in a pan of boiling water to check it opens.

Do you know if the water level was low before your trip? water pump is high in the system and it is possible to run it dry with only a slight loss in the head of coolant

I guess if you brim the cooling system and then crank the engine over with the top hose off and thermostat out the coolant should be pumping out I guess

[Harold74]

Thanks, I will have a go, at least I will know if its the water pump,

[dasadrew]

Firing from the hip, I'd say if you've got steam, then water is getting out of the system in vapour form or in liquid form and being fried. Happened to me twice and it was in both cases a core plug having blown out of a cylinder head. Very rapid loss of water, temp gauge in unfettered climb to the right and lotsa steam!

Drew

[bonnietiler750]

Now I had an overheating problem with my Mk2 and I use it everyday as my daily driver...Couldn't bleed the system..my Drive has a slope..so I reversed the car so that the rad was at the highest point.you could probably do the same with a jack? I re-bled the system and have had no problems since. If the inlet is not at the highest point then you could trap air...worth a go as it costs nothing but a little time.
Cheers
Bonnietiler

[rwdstag]

Check Water pump or jack shaft when my pump seized it broke the shear pin on the jack shaft then the timing whent out etc etc

[edd]

Has anyone seen the film ground hog day

[KOY 23]

Has anyone seen the film ground hog day

No.

[dasadrew]

Has anyone seen the film ground hog day

Yes, that was the film where the main protagonist could repeat a situation again and again and each time try an adjustment or tweek on lots of different areas until he acheived perfection in each one and a happy end was reached. That's a really good analogy to going through the whole system bit by bit and making sure each bit is working perfectly to acheive a happy ending. Good spot Edd!

Drew

[edd]

Thanks Drew it's one of my favourite films. That's what so great about a forum we learn from everyone's mistakes to achieve a happy ending by not doing the same again and again. Glad you liked it

[richardthestag]

what is the happy ending though? by the time you have fixed all the character/foibles in the triumph v8 you could well end up with an efi 3.9 rover v8.

More efficient, lighter, and therefore more economical?

why are we all not fitting them I wonder

[jakesmig]

what is the happy ending though? by the time you have fixed all the character/foibles in the triumph v8 you could well end up with an efi 3.9 rover v8.

More efficient, lighter, and therefore more economical?

why are we all not fitting them I wonder

[edd]

Ahhh I love character I love my thin steering wheel I love my funny door mirrors I love my love my burble my strommies too.
I just changed the overheating character that enough for me. Some hate the suspension the interior seats the gearbox and dif each to their own