| Author |
Message |
Peter Connolly (Mondial_32_Aus)
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2001 - 4:19 am: | |
I had my cooling system pressure checked and tested for any exhaust in the system today. No problems whatsoever!!!!! No oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil!!! Whoo Hooo!!! No nasties coming out of the exhaust!!! Totally perfect.
My fears were incorrectly based on my observation of the coolant feeder pipe in the expansion tank causing turbulence and foaming.
Suffice it to say that I am exceedingly happy with this diagnosis!!!!
PC |
TomD (Tifosi)
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2001 - 7:00 am: | |
glad to hear it does not sound like a major problem |
Peter Connolly (Mondial_32_Aus)
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2001 - 1:57 am: | |
Magoo & Others,
Firstly, thanks for your interest & prompt responses, it really is appreciated. I have no specific mechanical knowledge just basic general overview stuff so this can be confusing. I must say that this chat group is by and far the best of the lot including the ferrarilist which has a lot of crap mail and very few responses to technical questions.
The foam that I was seeing was definately turbulence, no question. It comes from the coolant pipe feeding into the top of the expansion tank, phew! The air bubbles that I now see are very few and I am not worried anymore.
The car is due for cam belts & valve adjustment next month (I have to chose a workshop yet! there are about 5-10 in Sydney) and I'll get all the relevant cooling system diagnosis done then.
PC |
'75 308 GT4 (Peter)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2001 - 12:13 am: | |
If you had a blown head-gasket, the exhaust would have an incredibly thick white cloud and poor driving performance.
Bleed the system, do that water-pump isolation test (but do it quickly! You'll have no coolant circulation and your battery won't charge) and take it from there.
I must have bled my cooling sytem about ten times after my recent work, the last couple were solid streams of coolant out the valve, no hissing sounds. |
magoo (Magoo)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2001 - 7:54 pm: | |
Peter, When you slow the engine down and the "Air Bubbles" come to the to top, are you sure that isn't turbulence rather than air. It shouldn't be air bubbles. Are your heater valves open all the way? Just thought I'd ask. |
Peter Connolly (Mondial_32_Aus)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2001 - 8:12 am: | |
Maybe I am over-reacting, I dunno. I can't see any oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil. I will have the car diagnosed properly this week particularly for exhaust in the coolant or an air leak somewhere. One thing I noticed today when cold was that the feed into the expansion tank is on top of the tank, if the coolant feed coming in is above the coolant level in the expansion tank then it's action of entering the expansion tank causes lots of foam.
When I topped up the coolant to the top of the expansion tank, the feed is now entering under the coolant and there is no foam. When I rev the engine, the coolant level drops and when I slow the engine down again enough to bring the coolant level back up to the top of the filler there are some air bubbles popping on the surface but no foam. Is this normal?
PC
PS: I bled the system of air today prior to this experiment. |
magoo (Magoo)
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2001 - 10:16 pm: | |
Peter, Could you possibly have done a pre-season coolant change in warmer weather and got air trapped in the heater cores and the valve has been shut until cooler weather when you opened it up. Probably not, just a guess. Check out all the small things then go for a pressure check on the system and also a analysis of the coolant under pressure to tell if you have exhaust gases getting into the coolant. Also check the oil for presence of coolant and check the coolant for presence of oil. |
Mark C. Gordon (Markg)
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2001 - 9:21 am: | |
A thick, almost sludge like foam is a strong indicator of oil in water, most likely a blown head gasket or cracked head. It foams due to aggitation created in the circulation prosess.
If foam is more watery or suds like, it most likely is air trapped in or being introduce into, the coolant. I had the first problem in a non-Ferrari, head gasket blown.
Good luck! |
Peter Connolly (Mondial_32_Aus)
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2001 - 5:23 am: | |
I have a white foam/bubbles in my expansion tank in my 87 Mondial.
I thought that I had a full & operational coolant system having topped it up last week due to a low coolant light coming on. The same thing happened today, as it had only been running for 5 minutes I pulled over and removed the expansion radiator cap, it was very warm to hot but not unsafe to remove.
What came out was lots of white foam, maybe about 1/2 a litre (in volume). With engine running and the cap off I opened the cock on the radiator and then I added only about 1 litre of water and it was full again. I then drove home.
After about 90 minutes (engine warm) I removed the cap and observed the level to be the required 6 cm below the cap, I started the engine and observed the foam starting to form. I revved the engine to 2k, the coolant level dropped and foam appeared, when I dropped the revs the coolant rose and the foam came gushing out.
I am fearing the worst as this sounds like I have an air or exhaust leak into the coolant system (based on some hasty internet research on cooling systems!) what I don't know is if the problem is a head gasket or something in the engine or something else.
I believe that I need to isolate the water pump by removing the belt for it and then observing for bubbles/foam, if no bubbles then I need to recon my water pump, if bubbles/foam then I have an air leak somewhere else or worse, an exhaust leak into my cooling system most likely caused by a stuffed head gasket and proven by connecting a block check CO tester.
Questions
Is foam normal under the above conditions?
Will draining and air bleeding the cooling system resolve this or am I being optimistic?
Is this problem common?
What is the likely remedy?
Will it involve and engine out or heads removal?
Should I be doing something else to eliminate the head gasket as the cause?
PC |
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