[DarthPalmer]

Sorry for the essay but wanted to give as much detail as possible.
Fitted the R33 turbo today. As per my last thread, filled turbo and block with oil, topped up coolant, cranked over a good few times, fired it up for a min. Stopped, topped up oil. Ran it for 20 mins observing for leaks, none visible, topped up coolant and opened the nut on the front of the plenum until it was bled and full.
Just been out for a short drive - about 6 mile round trip to get petrol, only put my foot down once before stopping for fuel. All seems good.
On the way there water temp needle didn't start to climb til about 5 mins driving then jumped up to about normal, coinciding with a small bump so thought maybe a loose connection. Quick check for leaks at the garage , checked coolant - all looked good.
As soon as i start back, temp needle goes up to slightly over 3/4 - still nowhere near danger levels. I slowed right down and kept my eye on it and it dropped a bit to only a touch higher than norm. Got back and notice a whisp of steam coming out of the bonnet. Opened up and a lot of bubbling going on and rad pipes are rock solid. Opened up cap and there is a LOT of pressure in there! Took about 5 mins to calm down.
Any suggestions? Really hoping i haven't cooked the headgasket

 

[Buffy.]

You still have an airlock in there

 

[DarthPalmer]

Was gonna bleed the system through again tomorrow and hope that is an end to my woes but wondered if anything else could be causing the problem too.

 

[csar60]

give it some good revs wen in teh garage. it'll push water and oil through the lines and clear out the air bubbles. and also, u may have particles in the coolant or oil feed lines. hope not, cuz that means u need to take it all apart and remove the turbo to clean it out. and make sure there are no kinks in the lines.
i just installed a garret this past weekend in my car, and i just let it idle for about 5 min then gave it some good revs, followed by a few spirited runs. the self fabricated compressor outlet ines exploded, a screw driver i forogt under the car fell out and slapped the under body of the cahssis, and i found an oil leak which started a minor fire. make sure u didn't make the same mistakes. couls save u 45 min of readjustements and fire fighting skills.

 

[DarthPalmer]

Sounds like your having as much fun as me! I'm just sitting here feeling depressed cos i can't go and investigate in the dark, convincing myself that the HG has probably blown now after letting it get so hot. Bloody gauge never got anywhere near the top of the scale

 

[MARKPRIOR]

did you replace the water pipes with new ones, as since there metal the rot from the inside out and when fiddled with when the havnt moved for years they tend to crack,

if there ok then bleed it the old fashioned way just to be sure

Park on hill

bricks behind back tyres

raise front end higher than engine

open and poor lol, i always find this the best way the wieght of the water tends to push the air round the pipes especially when the airlocks somewhere nice and easy like the heater matrix lmao

fill it up keep it at about 3000rpm, let it get to normal temp, top up again, go for a spirited run and just keep topping up the overflow bottle if it needs it over the next coup[le days

 

[General Banter]

I don't think you'll have cooked your headgasket as you did the right thing by slowing down and monitoring it, the fact you never let it get to the top of the scale is in your favour too. Mine overheated twice while I had it (once on track) and the headgasket survived and it turned out to be a stuck thermostat, my rad pipes were hard as rock too

 

[General Banter]

Also if you pop to any half decent garage they should be able to do a sniff bottle test on your car and put your mind at ease about the h/g.

 

[DarthPalmer]

well fingers crossed i got away with it Spent my lunch hour bleeding the system through again, at first it just immediately went into the red but a lot of pipe squeezing and whatnot later temp came back down to normal and stayed there for the best part of an hour with some vigourous revving which the neighbours enjoyed!
Will probably get the HG checked out to be certain. Whats a sniff test then - new one on me?

 

[Japtastic]

Good news sounds like you'll be alright, I'm the same as you, I always get paranoid after doing work on the car and jump to the wrost case senario

 

[ChrisC]

Do the rb20's not have the bleed screw next to the plenum, like the 25's do?
That is more or less on the pipe that feeds the water to the turbo, and needs to be opened when re-filling the cooling system.

 

[General Banter]

The head gasket tester is basically one of these little fellas:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SNAP-ON-BLUE-...ryZ30917QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


With the engine running you place the bung end into the rad hole and use it to pass gasses through the active liquid. The liquid changes colour if gasses are present indicating a blown headgasket. AA and RAC patrols also carry these

 

[chormelvin]

why dont you just park the car with the rad cap off let it get to normal temp and top up as you go along better than blasting the car around then messin about with hot pressurised caps do it for 30mins if you have to

 

[DarthPalmer]

Do the rb20's not have the bleed screw next to the plenum, like the 25's do?
That is more or less on the pipe that feeds the water to the turbo, and needs to be opened when re-filling the cooling system.

Yup, RB20 has the same bleed screw and i bled it through that the first time and again today

why dont you just park the car with the rad cap off let it get to normal temp and top up as you go along better than blasting the car around then messin about with hot pressurised caps do it for 30mins if you have to

Tried that the first time

The head gasket tester is basically one of these little fellas:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SNAP-ON-BLUE-...ryZ30917QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


With the engine running you place the bung end into the rad hole and use it to pass gasses through the active liquid. The liquid changes colour if gasses are present indicating a blown headgasket. AA and RAC patrols also carry these

Ahhh! Will get on the blower to a few local garages tomorrow and see if they have such a device. Cheers :cheers:

 

[Bigchief]

hi james, it is a air lock mate, sometimes if its difficult to get all the air out, you may be better off draining a bit more out and try again, it does take a while to get it all out, a sniff test is when a tool is screwed onto yr expansion tank and pressure is put into it to see if yr coolant goes down and loses pressure then its a head gasket....make sure yr heater is turned on hot so the heater matrix fills up with water as well mate....good luck let us know how you get on mate...keith

 

[DarthPalmer]

Cheers Chief but think it's sorted now. It settled down and ran for an hour or so at lunchtime and was monitoring the temps on the laptop and after bleeding it through again it stayed on the good side of 80 til i switched it off

 

[fat_bloke]

Good news

 

[DarthPalmer]

Yup Just away to run it for another half hour or so then go give it a bit of a spanking :whip:

 

[Eric A]

its looking good then all sorted

 

[General Banter]

Glad its sorted itself out for you :cheers: