Just got back from short journey and noticed the water temp gauge on the van was right up, no warning lights had flashed. Looked in engine bay and heard a slit wirring noise, also noticed that the secondary(?) water resevoir was empty. Checked water in the one behind the flap but that was fine. Then I noticed the noise was coming from a hole in what looks like the top of the gearbox, but I am not totally sure of this. Anyway, below are a couple of pics of the hole. Could anyone tell me what is supposed to be in it's place as it looks as though something has popped out, and it looks serious?
Thanks for that. Should this not be covered with something? Is it a problem that it is nt covered? I don't suppose this explains why the water temp went up does it?
Plastic double bung.....large bung with the hexagon drive for removal and then a second bung attached by a loop of plastic and hoop that retains it to the main bung..this one is missing. No big shakes, gives access to the timing marks and just seals the bell housing.
Thanks for all the replies. I will get back in touch with the mechanic to see if he may have it on the workshop floor somewhere! If not, I will get a new one from the Brickwerks link, it might not be impirtant but it's nice to have the hole filled!
i would proberbly start the engine and put the heater on hot then go round the back and take the cap off the inner expansion bottle and just keep topping up with water(with the lid off all the time) while on tick over..keep filling till theres no more air bubbles and the level is near the top
give it a rev or two then keep checking the water level is still the same on tick over..it should rise and fall on the revs
if all ok and theres no more air in the system..stick the cap on and wait for the pressure to build up a bit and see if theres owt on the floor anywhere.
if its ok turn it off and leave it half an hour then go back and check the water level again
the word 'pissing' is safe
Dave and gail.....1983 Pop Top 1.9n/a diesel (aka Ready Steady Eddie)
You mentioned 'mechanic' - have you just had work done on the cooling system, pump, coolant, etc and the mechanic refilled the system and didn't bleed the system correctly?
I did, you're right. I've just had the diesel fuel pump refurbished, the power steering pump replaced and the cam belt changed. Not being a mechanic myself I'm not sure if any of these require the cooling system to be drained, but the secondary resevoir was definitely very low when I looked earlier, yet there was more than the minimum level of water in the resevoir behind the flap.
It should be detailed on your bill if it was - it shouldn't have been if that was all that was done. I would just ask him to be sure - if he did you may not have a leak.
It turns out the mechanic removed the lower resevoir in order to fit the new cam belt, but has asked me to bring the van back in so he can take a look (no extra cost obviously!). I did the tasks that were mentioned in the earlier post re topping up water with engine on etc, and then took it for a drive to get up to temp. The temp gauge sat at the usual spot mid way up and didn't go any further. When I got back I re checked the resevoir under the engine cover and that was still at the mark I filled it to. Hopefully it was just an air lock and has been cleared now, but I will still get it checked over.
Many thanks again to everyone who replied to this post, it was very helpful.
The whirring noise will be the auxillary water pump operating because the engine temp is too high (the unit above the timing pointer hole in your pic). Hopefully the engine is ok.
