monumental overheat and exploding pressure cap nightmare

[wrobstar21]

Hi all,

last night my girlfriend and i drove to brighton from eastbourne to see some music. all was fine until we arrived at brighton, my temp needle went up and up and just as i managed to pull over safely there was an explosion and steam poured into the van and out the side vents. we saw the concert but it took us 5 hours to do 25 miles stopping and starting with me pouring litres of water in every time!

I actually felt like scrapping it last night,seemed to be fine for ages then this massive build up of pressure. could this be gasket issues or could a leak in the system cause boiling, im at my witts end, help and advice needed!!!

rob

[ermie571]

not much good with advice - what pipe burst and have you replaced it?

If you pour water in now...where does it come out?

C'mon...you KNOW you still love it

not sure of engine type?

Em
xx

[AdrianC]

but it took us 5 hours to do 25 miles stopping and starting with me pouring litres of water in every time!

AFTER the hose burst?

then this massive build up of pressure

Not so fast... The cooling system's designed to be pressurised. If a hose lets go, or even just pops off, then you'll have a sudden release of pressure, which will cause the temperature to raise above boiling point, and you will get drama.

More details definitely needed...

[lloydy]

IF this is the same guy from facebook, then there is a back story of bubbling coolant, running hot. last owner removed the stat ect.
unfortunately it does sound head gaskety....

[ghost123uk]

Or as happened to me (ages ago) and at least 3 others on here I know of, a blockage in the bleed ring pipe and/or the "T" pieces on that pipe that can cause the coolant in the left hand head to boil.

[wrobstar21]

Yes same guy, I'm going to investigate further, no burst pipes but boiling coolant. Going to pressure check it, invest in a quality pressure cap, search the pipes for leaks then if necessary do the gaskets etc & cross my fingers about the bolts etc.

[wrobstar21]

I'll also check that pipe as you say! You did advise that before

[Sir Brixalot]

I had that problem with the bleed pipe round the engine bay which led to failed LH head. Problems continued and despite many garages testing the radiator and saying it was fine the problem disappeared as soon as I fitted a new one.

[300CE]

Yep, deffo check that pipe that goes round the bay - mine was blocked up like a good un' but luckily picked it up before putting the new engine in. Flushed it out as well as all the pipes leading to the rad.

[ghost123uk]

Blimey, seems blocked bleed ring issues are even more common than I thought. That makes it about 10 folk in just my limited experience that have suffered from it (including me). Perhaps "we" should add cleaning/flushing those thin pipes out as part of your engine service routine.


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