The General Cooling Issue Thread

[camerondownunder88]

Most important, leave the bypass hose between the water pump and the thermostat housing in.

This gets the coolant flowing around the block while the thermostat is closed.

If you block the bypass house the thermostat doesn't heat up and hence fails to open.

 

 

 

Hi,

Dam learn something new every day. I never knew what this did. But In a KE1X they don't have this pipe. Obviously engineers though of it after 1969 so do you think I should mod my car for this bypass pipe so I get better internal and more even temperatures in my block for the engine?

 

Cheers

Cameron

[Twinky]

Well..... Twas a long day yesterday....

 

The part number for my new radiator cap is CA1390. Got home and the exact same thing happened, coolant pressurized, overflow full.

So I thought stuff it, take the head off. So I began taking everything out and eventually got the head off and whilst I was doing it

I noticed the 4 head bolts in the middle were not as tight as the outer ones. There was a little bit of coolant between cylinder 2&3

but I am unsure if that was just spilt coolant wheni lifted the head. Inspected the gasket and no blow outs, just seemed that the head

was not tightened. When I did the HG last time I made sure that it was within torque spec so I know that it wasnt't that it was not done right.

 

One thing that i did notice that when the 5 speed went in the motor angle changed and what had happed was that the exhaust was pressing

up against the body of the car putting vertical pressure on the manifold and the head. So that could have been one of the factors but I

am unsure. So I took a section of the extractor secondaries out and extended them so that they no longer fouled on the car body.

Inserted my new thermo and then put the rest of the motor together.

So the next morning I started the motor........ Only three cylinders were firing...... poped off the rocker cover, bent rod. The f@$ker hadn't seated

properly and I had failed to check it properly. From a glance it looked fine but when you look down into the block it was sitting just off the rim

on the lifters. So I spent the next two hours straightening it with a blowtorch, hard rubber hammer and a vice. Got it pretty spot on but I'm now

on the hunt for a new set. I've had a bent rod straightened before and it has not given me issues since but just for safe measure I'll replace them

especially since I will be going forced induction soon.

 

So, now the motor runs sweet (reset timing to 10 deg at 800rpm, air/fuel mixture reset by fully closing it then opening it up till I get the max rpm and then backing it off slightly)

and thankfully no more coolant filling up the overflow. It has been a very busy past two days but I am happy I have done it because now my motor is running better than it ever has.

Time spent = 7 hours

 

You definately learn something new every day!

Edited February 12, 2011 by Twinky

[philbey]

Sounds like the gaskets was the issue then. You should always put some never seize under the bolt head so you get correct torque readings, otherwise the friction accounts for much of the torque.

 

Cam I wouldn't bother trying to adapt a bypass, later k engines had a whole lot more plumbing for emissions and so on, I doubt you'll see any real gain in reliability.

 

Edit- you most likely won't see any damage to the head gaskets if its only been faulty for a short while.

Edited February 12, 2011 by philbey

[altezzaclub]

Well done! Its nice to solve a problem and let us all find out what the symptoms mean.

[love ke70]

as was said, you need to lubricate the under side of the head bolts with copper slip or anti sieze or whatever its called in your town, and i would always go max torque, or a bit over.

 

did you get the head skimmed? if not its likely to let go again in a short period of time, in my opinion, people will argue on this though...

 

you want a set of pushrods? i could pull a set from a motor if you want, just PM me an offer including post :)

 

i know you only spent 7 hours doing it, but maybe in future slow down a bit and you wont end up with bent pushrods, missing thermostats etc

 

cheers, andy

[Twinky]

I have put the anti sieze in on the threads but not under the heads of the bolts, thought the oil under them would the sufficient.

Yeah I was in a bit of a hurry to do it as I needed the car the next day. I haven't had the head skimmed but maybe when I get a quiet period I'll take it to a workshop and get it done. I'll see if I can source some pushrods localy first and if I come up short I'll give you a pm.

 

I'll try to go slower next time :happy: maybe 10 hours?

 

Cheers

 

Alex

[philbey]

Hmm, i wouldn't be surprised if you have issues with the head again if you didn't skim it. Did you straightedge it?

[Andy43]

Hi,

Dam learn something new every day. I never knew what this did. But In a KE1X they don't have this pipe. Obviously engineers though of it after 1969 so do you think I should mod my car for this bypass pipe so I get better internal and more even temperatures in my block for the engine?

 

Cheers

Cameron

 

 

I read about this in the yellow book, I removed the bypass hose on the race car once this caused all sort over heating issues.

Do KE1X get around this by flowing coolant through the heat core ?

Cheers

Andy

[TRD ke70]

When you done the head gasket last time, Did you RE-TORQUE the head?

 

Even if it says Mono torque, you still need to re-torque the head.

We re-torque the head up to three times on a rally engine that has had a new gasket fitted.

[Andy43]

Been reading about, cooling the rear of the head, so you can up the compression ratio.

 

Theory relates to the fact the small holes in the gaskit to remove cooling air locks in the block around cylinders 1 and 2 cause inbalance in the head temperature, this makes the head runs hottest around the combustion chambers for 3 and 4, This makes 3 and 4 prone to detination and over heating, and Hence compression ratios are wound back as a fix.

 

Has anyone plummed from coolant drain point on the front of a 3k block to the heater port on the rear of the head, in order to improve the cooling efficiency of the head ?

 

This of course is all theory.

 

Cheers

Andy

[Trev]

Hmm, i wouldn't be surprised if you have issues with the head again if you didn't skim it. Did you straightedge it?

 

People normally run into trouble when they do a head gasket at home because they fail to clean the surfaces properly.

[philbey]

Yeh true.

 

Last one I had done I only had .4mm max runout on the head but I got it skimmed anyway.

 

For cleanup, I use this stuff. Killer

 

I could get a head off and on again in 30 minutes if I wanted too, but to do it properly, block the water gallery holes, cloth down the bores, spray and scrape the crud off, that's the best part of an hour!

[ke70dave]

as a general rule everytime ive taken a head off an engine (admitedly only about 5 times) i take it to the engine shop for a check up, skim, clean etc.

 

they usually find an issue, either need a new valve, or a bit of corosion (given ive only played with older engines, though even the 97 astina head had some corosion in it....). but main part is they acid clean it, pressure test it, check for straighness, skim it, and cover it in that assembly oil. might cost 150bucks but its worth it for peace of mind. i think i got away with only 60bucks last time, just a clean and a check up and it was good to go.

 

then when you get it back, you do not have to worry about the head at all. its nice and clean (ie perfectly clean), you know the head is in perfect condition, and then you only have to worry about the block end.

 

to which i generally take a few hours with a razor blade and some sort of nasty cleaning agent (acetone works good), or mineral turps. spend a while scraping away at all the old crap untill the entire block face is just as shiny as the head.

 

a good gasket, a good torque wrench (ill say it again...GOOD TORQUE WRENCH!!), lots of patience, and a good helper, not rushing crucial steps (timing alignment/belts/torquing) means for a happy engine, which means for a happy owner....ie me!

[philbey]

...some sort of nasty cleaning agent (acetone works good), or mineral turps. spend a while scraping away at all the old crap untill the entire block face is just as shiny as the head....

 

Honestly dave, forget that shit, acetone, turps, metho, petrol, forget it all.

 

Get the CRC stuff I posted up, it is insanely good; spray on, leave for 15 minutes, wipe, anything left, reapply. If there's anything after that, it will garaunteed come straight off with a razor.

 

It will lift paint in a matter of seconds, so mask up the block if you like your paintjob and don't put the can down on the guard.

 

Wear gloves, nasty stuff, burns.

[MicMac]

Something has gone tragically wrong with my radiator.

I have a KE55, entirely stock apart from a Weber carb. The car was running beautifully, drove it from Canberra to Melbourne without a problem. In the last few days however it has started overheating at times it really shouldn't. Today is a fairly cool day in Melbourne, and on the 5 minute drive to my girlfriends work this morning it overheated. When I arrived back home there was coolant coming from somewhere on the underside of the radiator, but I couldn't figure out exactly where. It definitely wasn't a loose hose however as it was coming from the wrong place. The radiator was hissing and there was plenty of steam.

Checked my fan belt, definitely turning properly etc. Last time this happened I checked for bubbles and there were some, I'm waiting for the car to cool down so I can do the same test again. The level in my overflow isn't changing at all, and I may need a longer hose for that.

I'm going to replace the radiator cap as soon as possible, as that's old and fairly buggered. Any other suggestions of things to try before I get the radiator reconditioned?

Thanks in advance