Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,

I ran really low on oil the other so I bought 1litre of synthetic 5/30 (that's all the garage had) then the next day I put about 2 litres semi synthetic 10/40 oil in... but now I've noticed the engine is running a lot hotter than normal... about 3/4 on the temp gauge... slightly unnerving...

Not really sure what to do about it... I've got a petrol 2.1 DJ recon engine (about 4 months old)... Should I empty it all out and put some 15/40 mineral oil?

or think it all OK...

Thanks in advance!

I believe mixing oils is a bad thing (unless in a fix like you were in) so a change is probably for the best to whatever grade oil that is recommended by the supplier of the recon.

Is the fan cutting in?

Also, I don't think a four month old recon should run low on oil!

mixing synthetic and mineral is a massive no no!!!

colouredFunk wrote: I've got a petrol 2.1 DJ recon engine (about 4 months old)

Take it back and sharpish.

It shouldn't use any oil at all once it's settled at around the 2/3rds level between the 2 dipstick marks, our's doesn't even now after 45,000 miles.

Ian

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Al ... ecommended" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In progress. Don't want to make it tooo complicated but covering the bases.

great thanks for all the replies! I got a garage to change the oil and filter over the weekend...

it's still running very hot, which I'm guessing isn't related to the oil any more... strange that it started at the same time though... but yeah... running round town the temp light flashes on... the fan doesn't always come on either... driving normally on the motorway, it floats between 3/4 and 1/2 on the gauge... it's never gone over 1/2 before...

Got it booked in the garage for Tuesday, but I've got a lot of driving to do before then... any suggestions on what it could be?

Cheers in advance!!

You have checked that there is actually coolant in the cooling system?? ie not just the top up tank behind the number plate, the "pressure" tank to the left of the top up tank.. this should be FULL.. if it isnt, the system has lost coolant... and will require refilling and bleeding....

Great thanks for that! Did the trick nicely!! Running is back to normal now

Strange the pressure bottle was empty! The top-up tank was full though... What the difference between the two tanks, should the 'top-up' tank feed the pressure tank?

Over the last 4 years, I've noticed the pressure tank always full and the top-tank empty...

Possibly time for a new pressure cap, get a proper one from Brickwerks, they're not expensive. It's maybe failed and hence not allowing the coolant to return to the tank once its cooled a bit.

There's an easy to understand cooling system guide on Brickyard, courtesy of Mr Baxter

OK I'm definitely losing coolant somewhere. I've taken it to a Garage, they thought they found and fixed a very slight leak from a pipe. But I'm still experiencing the same problem; after a few hundred miles I need to top up the coolant..

This morning I was driving away when I had the temp warning light come on, pulled over checked it out, the coolant bottle was empty, but the one behind the number plate was reasonable full (up to the mark)... So I slowly opening the pressure bottle..lots of hissing, waited for a while until I could safely remove the cap completely... water came flooding back in...I still topped it up with fresh water... I carried on driving and all was fine...

So now I'm slightly confused, I was starting to worry that the coolant was going missing in the engine somewhere, gasket or something...Does what I've describe above sound like it could be?

I mentioned to the Garage that I've been told it could be the pressure cap, but they said the bottle is new so that shouldn't be the problem... I checked out the terminals that connect to the sensor and they looks all grim so I'll replace them with some from Maplins on the way home...

andisnewsyncro - is this was you meant by a new pressure cap?
http://www.brickwerks.co.uk/shop?page=s ... ory_id=118

Thanks in advance

This is the new tank cap http://www.brickwerks.co.uk/shop?page=s ... ory_id=118

Once you've got that, sit down and have a good long read of all the stuff about bleeding the system. There's a lot of it to take in but it's not that hard, even I have managed to follow it The link to it is in my last post, but rule out a faulty cap 1st otherwise you'll be wasting your time IMHO

Hope you get it sorted easily

A coolant bleeding guide that isn't in the wiki

http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/bleed ... c9767.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OK cool thanks for that. I thought it was just a cap, didn't realise it had a valve in it too!

Do GSF sell them as well? if so I can get one today and do all the bleeding over the weekend, otherwise it's all going have to wait another week until the one from Brickwerks comes in the post...

Also, probs a dumb question but here we go... What's the point of bleeding the system if I've got a leak.. If the Cap doesn't fix the problem, is it not a waste of time, as I I'm loosing coolant and will be topping up with water only, so consequently loosing the anti-freeze mixture ratio...(which is probably really low now anyway...very scary for this time of year).... But I guess also my point is, if it doesn't work I will probably have to bleed it again very soon when I eventually fix the problem...