Major Coolant Loss

[steamship]

A bit more work done in between other stuff around the house, and decided to try and do a few other things whilst the front of the car is off.

With the fans and covers off I noticed that the 3.7 only has the one idler pulley, unlike the 4.2s you see in MJs threads. The kit came with two and I initially thought that the previous 'mechanic' hadn't fitted the second one (in position 1 in the photo) or had broken the old bolt and just left it. Not shown in this photo, but whilst removing the bolts for the water pump, the one shown in position 2 snapped off as soon as I tried turning it. After removing the pump, there is a combination of old gasket and black sealant, so it was never sealed properly, with it rusting through the bolt.



In terms of the two belts, the poly v-belt is in a far worse state than the timing belt, with them allegedly replaced at the same time (I had supplied all the parts) and having done 50,000 miles.





Since it was handy, I also decided to remove the washer bottle and give it a good clean as there's some muck stuck to some of the sides. There appears to be a very small leak from the pump, so will replace those seals as well.

I also decided to try and do the oil cooler pipe, having bought one back at the 2017 annual meet, and in theory a good time to do it with the front end of. Since the engine is still in situ, I'm trying to follow the instructions on the audipages site:

http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articl...reinstall.html

In point 2 of the section starting "E. Remove Oil Cooler." it states to use a bottle jack to raise the engine slightly to give better access to the top bolts of the oil cooler, after having removing the bottom bolts securing the engine mount to the subframe. Unfortunately, it just starts to raise the car for me as well. Has anyone ever done this with the engine in situ, or can offer a suggestion?

The dark blue pipe is the vacuum pipe which I replaced when I got the car as the originals were either brittle or totally gone. The light blue pipe sitting on top of the wheel is the LPG pipe.

[Ronin]

Respect for doing all this work outside man, this stuff is not for the weak

[steamship]

Been some time since I've posted about this, as I'd hoped to get it all up and running, and then post.

...However, a big question to ask, and it's either a headache or heartbreak.

Everything bar the bumper cover and lights fitted. All the fluids done (water, oil, transmission and steering) and decided to throw in a can of radiator flush. Ran engine up to temperature at idle, switched off, left to cool and then drained the water.

Possible problem. Water was cloudy and felt slightly oily. Assumed this was from the radiator flush, and proceeded to fill again with water (as instructed) to flush out any remaining radiator flush.

This time I took it for a short drive up and down the lane, about 1/4 mile to clean the brakes, let it cool and proceeded to drain.

Big problem! This can be summed up as either 'oh s**t' or 'oh f**k!' A lot of oil in the coolant. Pulled off every pipe and every bung to get coolant out, and then proceeded to just put a hose in the coolant tank and run it until clean.

So it's either the oil cooler pipe (or oil cooler itself) or worse, a head gasket.

I've Googled the living daylights out of this and the majority of results are 'coolant in the oil'. Here's what I know for sure.

1. Engine was running fine, both on petrol and LPG
2. No smoke from exhaust
3. Lots of oil in the coolant
4. NO coolant in the oil (I drained the oil)
5. Substantial amount of oil has gone AWOL
6. No signs of oil/coolant coming from oil cooler area

If it's the oil cooler, I can work on that and still get to the annual meet. If it's head gasket(s), it's doubtful if I could get that done in time (I haven't read up on what's involved with that), and I still need to MOT it before the meet as well.

Is there an easy way to check for head gasket damage?

[MikkiJayne]

Oil cooler matrix. Its never the headgasket on these engines - they seem nigh indestructible. The oil cooler pipe just leaks water - it can't mix oil and water.

Just make sure to flush the system a couple of times after replacement to get all the residual oil out.

[steamship]

Time to go shopping again. Do you reckon a couple of LiquiMoly Radiator Cleaner flushes would do the job?

[MikkiJayne]

Never tried the LiquiMoly, but the brand is generally well regarded so I'm sure it would be fine. Personally I use the Wynns one, but tbh they're probably all much the same. I've seen Youtube mechanics use Tide pods and achieve the same result

[steamship]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

I've seen Youtube mechanics use Tide pods and achieve the same result

I'm still using old fashioned washing powder, so that's probably not a good idea.

[Conan_the_Librarian]

Plus one on the doctors diagnosis. I had it happen to me. The coolant was like custard and pressure testing showed nothing when the engine was cold. Convinced it was the oil cooler I took it off and pressured tested it. Nothing in a bath of cold water. However when it went into hot water a very thin stream of bubbles appeared. So when the engine was hot a very thin stream of oil was making its way into the coolant. After fitting a new cooler I flushed the engine coolant circuit with multiple engine flushes and eventually had to flush the cabin heater matrix separately! I made a connection from a domestic hot water tap and ran it through the heater matrix after leaving it a hour with almost neat coolant flush in there.

perfectionem servare contendimus!

[steamship]

Originally Posted by Conan_the_Librarian

So when the engine was hot a very thin stream of oil was making its way into the coolant.

I've no way of pressure testing it, but might try dismantling it after fitting a new one to see if I can find the failure point.

[tc4332]

Sean, Let me know and I'll pick you up from the ferry if you land up walking 'cos you are carless.