Mechanic / Enthusiast Stoke Engine Troubles!!!!

[1985T25nick]

Hi Lovely 80 90 people,
We've had our van 85 DG for about three years and have had some good times in it with several trips down to Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and local jaunts around the peak district. I've known about a slow water leak from one of the pipes under the van and i've tried to seal a few times but still find that i lose a little coolent wnen sitting for a while. On a few short trips i found that the van overheated but after stopping topping up and bleeding all cooled down and worked well. We had some long (800 mile) journeys with no probs but when we went to Newquay last year the van overheated, blew it's pipes and darleck cap of and after several attempts of getting it back working it kept doing the same thing. We then tranported it the 200 miles back home and upon coming back i took it to a mechanic to get his assessment of the problem. When he looked at it he found that the thermo housing was there but the actual thromstat had been knocked out leaving just a hole. This really baffled him and me and i couldn't understand how it had been performing so well and had done approx 5000 miles without a thermo being there? As the season is due to start soon i would like to get it fixed now and wondered if anyone had any recomendations on mechanics around Stoke who i could go to to get it fixed? The engine starts and ticks over fine, no white smoke and knocks or bangs, oil leaks? Reading the wiki it sounds as if the water jackets may have failed, if this is the case does it mean that the engine is fooked? Any help you could offer would be most helpful???
Thanks, nick.

[keith]

You could try moss moor garage in burslem.....ive had a couple of jobs done there.

Or lee at Kraftwerks ....dewsbury road fenton....has a really good reputation.

[1985T25nick]

Hi 80 90 people, does anyone have any ideas on what is wrong with the engine, head gasket, etc or does my assessment on water jacket failure sound right? If so does this mean that the engine is a write off or can it be fixed and how???

Cheers,

nick.

[Mocki]

Hi
The water jackets are the rubber seal between the heads and the block, these rubber seals harden with age, then they don't seal, then the engine starts leaking coolant. A visual inspection will often be enough to determine this .
Leaking pipes are not a major problem if you can identify where the leak is .

If the internal water seals have failed you will have water in the oil .

You describe pressurisation blowing pipes and darlek cap off, this , whilst a tell tale symptom of cracked heads is also a symptom of air locking caused by insfficent bleeding .

In short, if you will the coolant up and look for visable leaking around the heads you are looking at engine out .

[jimpainter]

Pretty much what Mocki has said, you need to fill the coolant up and check for leaks visually with the engine running and not. If your losing coolant slowly it could take a few days to find te leak. It could really do with being yun up to temp as well to see what happens or if there is something obvious, like odd noises, if the coolant pipes get warm, check flow, check waterpump, etc etc.

I'm not in stoke but only up the 500 in Nantwich. If your stuck your more than welcome to fetch it up if you can.

Jim