uh oh...overheated engine t25 1.9 petrol...help!

[deecosi]

I made a huge mistake today. I'm travelling around Europe in my t25 1987 camper and today I set off on a 60km journey in Spain only to notice the red temp light flashing. I pulled into the first garage I met (around 10km later) and checked the water/oil....both ok, so I asked a mechanic at the garage next door to take a look. He said that the engine was overheating but he couldn't do anything with it till monday, so I asked if it would make the 50km journey left. He assured me it could, and when I arrived I should get it checked...big mistake.

15km later the engine sounded hoarse, and dry...around 2mins later as I was looking for somewhere to pull in it stopped, kaput, in the middle of the street, with smoke coming out the back.

It's Spain, so nothing is open mechanics-wise now until Monday, but I'm just wondering...have I completely messed up my engine or do you think the problem is solvable without too much outlay? I just want to have some idea of what to expect Monday.

Cheers in advance,

A very rueful camper,

Dee.

P.S. I have already travelled a few thousand miles in my camper in the past 12 months, but due to illness it ended up parked up in France for 6 months...hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I wish I'd had a quick service done on it before I moved on. I'm presuming that park-up is what's caused the initial problem?

[Plasticman]

helllowe
you just found us here?
its been stood a bit eh, well the red flashing lihght is often first showing low water level which = running abit hot. you may be lucky ,it needs filling and bleeding correctly and see how it goes
mm

[deecosi]

Thanks...I suppose I'm just anxious about whether the mechanic will know what he's doing and also whether I've completely mangled things up by driving in it until it went kaput...could I have done enough damage to need a new engine?!?

I joined the club 80 - 90 page back when I was searching for a van to buy, and it's a gold mine of info...where were we before the internet, eh?!

[itchyfeet]

I pulled into the first garage I met (around 10km later) and checked the water/oil....both ok,

so which water tank did you check?

you always need to check the tank in the engine bay with the pressue cap it must be totally full, the other tank behind the number plate flap is not the important one.

[Plasticman]

theres a link someplace, hopefully dsomeone can post it up for you on how to bleed these, it will save me having to write all out, get youtr mechy a copy and try it before condemning anything
mm
as ^^^ says but there is a method to checking and just removing the cap is not enough

[deecosi]

Thank you for your replies and advice.

I'll search for the article on bleeding now...the silver lining of not staying in my van is I've free wifi at the place I've got a room, so lots of time to hunt it out.

Itchy feet, you are, of course, absolutely correct. Unfortunately I did the novice thing of just checking the water tank next to the oil, and tomorrow I'll have another goose at the important water tank. I realised too late that I should have done that earlier, but after reading about it a bit decided I should let the engine cool down first before I go tinkering around in it.

I'm an absolute novice when it comes to engines/mechanics of the van, so I bow down to your superior knowledge.

[collins_sh]

Dee, Did it start again when it last stopped on you in the middle of the street?

If it did...
Here is the link for bleeding the system.
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Co ... ing_system" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the main thing is to ensure there are no leaks and you have all the air out of the system.
Work from the tank with the filler cap on the top, it is located inside the engine bay.

Dont go far with it until you have the above steps completed.

shane

[deecosi]

Thanks a million, Shane, I really appreciate all the advice. I didn't try it again after it conked..it sounded really bad just before it stopped, and there was a fair amount of smoke (and it was boiling hot anyway 32 degrees, so I was feeling as hot and bothered as the engine!!) but tomorrow I will have a look at it. Do you think I should try and start it or go through the steps in the link first?

[dbz864]

When the light was flashing was the temp gauge reading high?

[California Dreamin]

Also, did the radiator fan kick in as it should (just past half way)

Martin

[pionte]

here is the link.... good luck, hope you sort it.

http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/bleed ... 29710.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[deecosi]

Thanks everyone. When the red light was flashing the temp gauge was slowly rising, till it reached just about half way...the fan did not kick in.

I've been to look into the engine a bit more today and here's what I found:

The coolant tanks is, indeed, empty.

There is a white funny looking substance on a thing coming out of the coolant tank.

To the front and left of the engine (underneath) there is a lot of black wet-soot-looking stuff.

and I've added a few extra pics to give a bit more of a picture of what it all looks like (though my photography skills leave a lot to be desired!!!) (on the next posting...)

I'm going to let the mechanic bleed it...I don't trust myself without some back up/assurance I'm doing the right thing. But I'll bring the instructions along with me.

Thanks again for any advice you guys have provided...I feel a lot less alone now.

Dee

[deecosi]

more pics...

[aec]

The black stuff just looks like the usual result slight oil leak. If you've got leaky pushrod seals like me, you get used to it! The white stuff is just whats left behind when the coolant evapourates where there's a slight leakage, no big deal. From that photo, looks like there's a stain round that sender tho, is a failed seal there the cause (over a long time) of the coolant loss? Fingers crossed all you need is a refill & bleed, engine dying when overheating would worry me big time though!! good luck!

[deecosi]

So the mechanic has taken a cursory glance and doesn't seem too fazed...he's going to work on the engine this evening and expects a couple of hours labour should do the trick...I'm warily optimistic!

Reassuringly, when I turned up at the garage earlier he was working on another t25, so at least I know he has some experience of them.

I'll let you know the outcome...