Club 80-90 Forums

KatnDougal wrote: Questions:
At what level should expansion tank be when hot, should it go down to half and be half liquid/half air?

And should it refill again when cold?

The left hand tank should ALWAYS be 100% full.

The right hand "top up tank" should be between the marks when cold (about 1/3 full).
It should only get fuller than that when the whole motor etc is good and hot, when the system is cooling down, some water from the top up tank gets sucked back into the expansion tank to keep it 100% full.

KatnDougal wrote:At what point should fan kick in under load?
Could it be a wiring issue?

Load has nowt to do with when it kicks in, it is purely on temperature.
Not sure what temp the thermo switch kicks in - someone will come along and tell us

Yes it could be a wiring issue.

My fan does not come on very often at all, mostly only when sitting in traffic or when I am doing it on purpose by letting it tick over on the driveway for 30 minutes or more, then it will come on (due to no air flowing through the rad fins.)

KatnDougal wrote:p.s. only when i release the pressure off the dalek cap (when cold) does the expansion tank fill up to the brim with water again...

it should always be full, this indicates you may still have an airlock in the system (imho of course)

KatnDougal wrote: p.p.s i have just noticed a drip coming from the large rubber seal around the right side of the engine block - is it the water jacket seal and will these cause me problems?

This could be serious I am afraid.
I suspect your seal was less than perfect due to age etc and the excess pressure you experienced has damaged it further by forcing water past it.

See this thread here for more on this subject (it is a long thread but deffo worth reading) =
https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=52374" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not sure if this will help, or that someone more knowledgable (most people!) will say I'm wrong but we borrowed our first van from my Bro in law who had a recently fitted new engine and we had the same overheating problems. Apparently it was because the 'wrong' thermostat had been fitted. New (correct?) thermostat was fitted and the problem went away.............so we bought our own van!

OK, latest update is that we went to another garage to get their diagnosis. They thought it just needed bleeding so did so and called to say it all good. Very excited we went to collect it and drove off only to find the water dropped straight away in the expansion tank etc etc. Went back to the garage and got a refund as they had not fixed it as claimed and quizzed the mechanic and he said "of course it won't work, the head gasket has gone". Well he did not mention this earlier! He said he can't test it because water keeps backing up out the expansion tank when the cap is off intimating it v v bad. Worst fears realised and now accepted.

So, head gasket, should we buy parts and pay for a mechanic to spend days fixing it and maybe finding more problems or go for it and replace the whole engine? I feel the latter as I foresee many issues inside the engine as well as the head gasket... thoughts? If a new engine, who should I go to?

If you are paying a garage mechanic to do it there are a few things to consider.

1 = Do they (him) REALLY know about re-building a WBX engine, like how many has he done successfully before ?

2 = What will be the costs and other implications of the possibility of a head stud breaking on removal = normally a serious issue.

3 = What sort of guarantee will they offer on the work.

4 = The parts and labour may cost nearly as much as an Elite re-con if doing it at a garage, esp if anything goes wrong.

I reckon issue number 1 above is an important one !

If I had to choose between paying a garage or getting Elite to fit a re-con I know which I would choose.

Just wondering how you got on - I'm going through something similar with no joy...

I drove the van on the back of a trailer 500 miles to Elite in Basildon and they replaced my engine - found that the cowboys who had worked on it before had used parts from 2 different types of engines to make 1, no wonder it didn't work! The engine seems fine so far - we went on a 500 mile trip around the highlands of scotland and Dougal drove magnificently. We did have a slight coolant leak from a core plug but ELite sent the parts up next day and paid for my garage to fix it. Just having the 500 mile service next week to keep guarantee valid.

Overall, very glad I stumped up the cash to replace the engine as he is doing much better now!

just bought mine and found that it overheats unless i turn the heat control lever to hot then its ok ? any ideas

jeffdub wrote:just bought mine and found that it overheats unless i turn the heat control lever to hot then its ok ? any ideas

Insufficient coolant in the radiator.
Thermostat faulty.

KatnDougal wrote:OK, latest update is that we went to another garage to get their diagnosis. They thought it just needed bleeding so did so and called to say it all good. Very excited we went to collect it and drove off only to find the water dropped straight away in the expansion tank etc etc. Went back to the garage and got a refund as they had not fixed it as claimed and quizzed the mechanic and he said "of course it won't work, the head gasket has gone". Well he did not mention this earlier! He said he can't test it because water keeps backing up out the expansion tank when the cap is off intimating it v v bad. Worst fears realised and now accepted.

So, head gasket, should we buy parts and pay for a mechanic to spend days fixing it and maybe finding more problems or go for it and replace the whole engine? I feel the latter as I foresee many issues inside the engine as well as the head gasket... thoughts? If a new engine, who should I go to?

Water boxers don't have a head gaskets as such.
There are two silicone o rings at either end of the cylinder barrel and a steel sealing ring on top between the cylinder and head.
If the steel ring cracks then combution gas will blow the o ring at the top. With consequences.