new member may have problems

[kbekl]

hi all i am new to the site and new to the Maverick,Terrano ownership

just purchased a 1995 maverick with 87000 on the clock seems to be in good condition

but have a few worries that have just popped up after a week of owning it

first big worry is one day i noticed some bubbling in the engine bay and noticed some water starting to drip on the road after a short journey, on inspection the header/overflow box was bubbling with the ignition off and their was pressure in the pipes from the radiator.

now when i start the engine the car runs fine and drives fine and does not overheat, the air does get warm from the heater, but their is a constant bubbling in the header tank and the level in their seems to rise.

have checked the oil cap and their seems to be no mayo, is this a major problem like the head gasket or is their a simpler thing that causes this, also the bubbling seems to be more at tick over as when the revs are increased they tend to calm down but continue to bubble.

the other thing is i am getting an unusual noise from the dashboard when accelerating from low down revs

sorry for the long first post but just need to see if i have bought a lemon

[danielj]

Hope you find the site helpful. Afraid I can't be of much help to you but there is bound to be some more knowledgable member along soon to advise you. The bubbling thing sounds odd. Wonder if there is an air lock in the system. There was some threads on here about squeezing the rubber pipes to and from the radiator to release air from the system. Think the idea was to open the filler reservoir cap and squeeze the pipes to move the fluid around. What kind of noise under the dash?

[kbekl]

noise is like a grinding noise but only for a few seconds think it might be the tacho meter cabling but not sure if this is an electronic one

[danielj]

Didn't think they had a cable but I don't know about the 1995 Maverick. Is your tacho working ok? If so then wouldn't expect such noise from the cable if it has one. Have you an air conditioner or would it be a noise from the fan / heater?

[kbekl]

the tacho i working no air con and the heaters are normally off its just when i acclerate modirately hard the noise is quite hard to describe tbh never heard out like it befor might be under the car or in the engine bay under slow driving it isnt present

[danielj]

Does it make the noise if you rev the motor while in neutral or is it only when accelerating when in gear and putting a bit of load on the drive train, clutch etc?

[briggie]

having read your original post .... you are describing more or less exactly my old symptoms ...ie ... overheating and bubbling in the header tank....turned out to be a blown head gasket , but it was not causing the oil filler cap to be contaminated .

[macabethiel]

Okay this might sound very basic but what is the water level in the header tank when the engine is cold ?

e.g.When stood overnight. If it is above the maximum mark you will always expell any excess water.

I would aim for a level about a quarter of an inch below the maximum. Next thing is to be sure the system is bled with no air inside. I would do this by making sure the heater is on hot and if your model has bleed valves then bleed the system. If there are no bleed valves then follow the procedure in the manual.

Is the water nice and clean even when it has anti-freeze there is a big difference between clean fluid and dirty brown water. If the cause of the air bubbling is linked to a head gasket issue I would expect the exhuast tail pipe to be showing signs of excess water or some uneven running on tickover.

You can buy a test kit that will test the water for exhuast gases but usually you can smell it in the header tank if you have a good nose.

If you do have some bubbling it might be the water pump is not doing its job properly leading to localised boiling even though the temperature guage seems normal. And of course is the fan working properly not sure if your is viscous drive or not.

If you are going to do a coolant change I would buy one with some inbuilt sealants as Halfords sell for older higher mileage cars.

Do not panick and assume the worst as quite often its something simple. If you bought it privately I would ask the last owner he might throw some light on the issue.

I bought a used Vauxhall Cavalier some years ago that kept on having poor cold start problems in the winter. I spoke to the owner and he was quite candid and told me that's why he had got rid of the vehicle as he had spent a fortune on replacing coil, distributor, plug leads, carburetta and fuel pump. I put an inline fuel filter on it and it filled with water that froze and stopped it starting. Turned out the fuel tank had loads of water in it as a result of a perished vent pipe on the fuel tank. Cost me £10 for a new vent pipe and my own labour to remove and drain the fuel tank - never missed a beat and I sold it a year later for £400 more than I bought it for !! Result

[kbekl]

Originally Posted by danielj

Does it make the noise if you rev the motor while in neutral or is it only when accelerating when in gear and putting a bit of load on the drive train, clutch etc?

only when driving dont seem to do it sat still and revving so guess its something a little more serious then

[kbekl]

Originally Posted by briggie

having read your original post .... you are describing more or less exactly my old symptoms ...ie ... overheating and bubbling in the header tank....turned out to be a blown head gasket , but it was not causing the oil filler cap to be contaminated .

the temp dont acutally get that hot about a 3rd of the way up the gauge sat in traffic

[briggie]

Originally Posted by kbekl

the temp dont acutally get that hot about a 3rd of the way up the gauge sat in traffic

mine never gets above halfway , even when pressing the loud pedal hard up hill

[briggie]

bit of advice though .. please dont make the same mistake as me .... i was only checking the header tank to see if the water level was ok ...... check the rad !

[kbekl]

Originally Posted by macabethiel

Okay this might sound very basic but what is the water level in the header tank when the engine is cold ?

e.g.When stood overnight. If it is above the maximum mark you will always expell any excess water.

I would aim for a level about a quarter of an inch below the maximum. Next thing is to be sure the system is bled with no air inside. I would do this by making sure the heater is on hot and if your model has bleed valves then bleed the system. If there are no bleed valves then follow the procedure in the manual.

Is the water nice and clean even when it has anti-freeze there is a big difference between clean fluid and dirty brown water. If the cause of the air bubbling is linked to a head gasket issue I would expect the exhuast tail pipe to be showing signs of excess water or some uneven running on tickover.

You can buy a test kit that will test the water for exhuast gases but usually you can smell it in the header tank if you have a good nose.

If you do have some bubbling it might be the water pump is not doing its job properly leading to localised boiling even though the temperature guage seems normal. And of course is the fan working properly not sure if your is viscous drive or not.

If you are going to do a coolant change I would buy one with some inbuilt sealants as Halfords sell for older higher mileage cars.

Do not panick and assume the worst as quite often its something simple. If you bought it privately I would ask the last owner he might throw some light on the issue.

I bought a used Vauxhall Cavalier some years ago that kept on having poor cold start problems in the winter. I spoke to the owner and he was quite candid and told me that's why he had got rid of the vehicle as he had spent a fortune on replacing coil, distributor, plug leads, carburetta and fuel pump. I put an inline fuel filter on it and it filled with water that froze and stopped it starting. Turned out the fuel tank had loads of water in it as a result of a perished vent pipe on the fuel tank. Cost me £10 for a new vent pipe and my own labour to remove and drain the fuel tank - never missed a beat and I sold it a year later for £400 more than I bought it for !! Result

the level never moves over night just when running it starts to rise, the water is a dark colour, the leaking is comming from the driver side at the base of the rad think it might be the lower pipe

then engine has recently had a few bits done arround jan time like alternator and water pump (not sure if the water pump is new or not).

fan comes on when you start the engine so guess its a viscus type

it has a very low idle near the line on the tacho near 0 not sure if it is supposed to be that low.

no water out of the exhaust only the occasional blue smoke from staring and thin black when accelerating hard no white smoke.

it seems to try and fill the header tank up with coolant that loose it

in the rad the water seems clear

[kbekl]

Originally Posted by briggie

mine never gets above halfway , even when pressing the loud pedal hard up hill

mine never moves past a 3rd to halfway yet but only been sat in traffic for 10 mins not really gone that far in all honesty

the rad seems to try and empty its self in to the header tank as when i apply air pressure into the header with the rad open it fills and the when almost full the header is on min but then once the engine starts the header tank starts to fill

[briggie]

Originally Posted by kbekl

the level never moves over night just when running it starts to rise, the water is a dark colour, the leaking is comming from the driver side at the base of the rad think it might be the lower pipe

then engine has recently had a few bits done arround jan time like alternator and water pump (not sure if the water pump is new or not).

fan comes on when you start the engine so guess its a viscus type

it has a very low idle near the line on the tacho near 0 not sure if it is supposed to be that low.

no water out of the exhaust only the occasional blue smoke from staring and thin black when accelerating hard no white smoke.

it seems to try and fill the header tank up with coolant that loose it

in the rad the water seems clear

the leak at the drivers side could be the overflow pipe from the header tank ... it goes down inside the wing