hi all,

i have a E reg escort rst, i recently changed the engine to one my m8 had built for his S1 so im now using S1 turbocharger and all S1 water piping.
prior to this my old std engine had no issues with overheating.

the engine i now have in was built a few years ago uprated almost everything,and ran fine, but after him abbandoning the project he sat up the engine after doing ZERO road miles, then i had it off him a few years later which is where i am at now.....

what i have tried :
reploacement stat, take out the stat, bleeding the system, running water thru the top hose and running the car, wired the fan on perm.

but everytime i leave it on idle for 10-20 mins the temp guage goes off the scale and the water pipes are rock hard with pressure!! im seriously out of ideas, so far this prob has blown a water pipe and a heater matrix rad.. please if anyone can help i would be seriously greatful im at a complete loss now

 

Headgasket?

 

id have said the same m8, but when the engine was rebuilt it had a felpro put on with uprated head bolts and as said before done no miles since

 

just coz it was replaced,doesnt mean it works m8, get it checked !

 

you dont get pressure like that from a water pump mate. does it volcano water out with the filler cap off ? sounds like you definately got some engine combustion pressure getting in there mate

 

i know on vauxhalls, the water pump impeller can be loose on the shaft so under higher load its not turning quick enough? maybe your should swap the pump?

 

well i have checked the water and oil and there seems to be no mixing?
i mean im not dismissing it as i have ran out of ideas, but there is no oil in water or vica versa and no fluid loss?

and as far as the pump goes, that was new too, and when i had the hose off of the stat housing and put water thru the top of the rad while engine runnin it seemed fine, and was hitting my inner wing on revs?

 

mine was the same, just not like over the max in red,

cause of mine was head-gaskit.. some after market ones are worse than a 50p made one, get a Gen ford gaskit, there good for 350

mine never lost any water, or mix'ed but over heated and pipes went solid, once the gaskit was changed all good,

also check the oil, im 90% sure they should have 10w60

 

hhmmmm..... would a pressure test give me any indication of the head gasket beeing goosed? as you said m8 my pipes are like concreate too!!

 

thats for oil compression/piston wear/ring ect...


the do run hot RSturbos always have when you upgrade from standard but mine dont even get past 3/4 on the heat gauge on hard boost.. stoping and starting..

are you losing any water? give this a go, make sure its cold, put your heaters on warm, on max, and run it without the water cap on, maybe a air lock but when you tell us that the water hoses are going rock that would tell me HG..

leave it with me for a few hours, will ring a mate from ford who works on thease everyday..

Few more-

to indicate other points are this, Starting, does it sometimes take 2/3 times to start, since its summer, when you start it does it puff any white smoke a little on start?

the head-gaskit could be on its way out, just not gone yet, but you'll know when the head-gaskit goes, looks like your doing a drift with the amount of smoke that comes out.. look like a steam engine

 

pressure test would but you can also get some stuff you put in header tank and it changes colour if theres any exhaust gases etc in the water but from what you've said i'd chnge gasket any way only afternoons work and Ł70

 

not losing any water what so ever, temp gets so hot as i said it has blown a hose and heater matrix rad, i tried the heater of full while it was running but it had the cap on and still reached red then wen i check the hoses are rock hard and when i release the cap slightly it sprsys like mad obv cause of pressure.

 

all what your saying sounds like a head gaskit on its way out...

like above its not that hard, i would get it done now aswell, otherwise you'll need a head skim, or you could crack the block.

 

It certainly sounds like head gasket failure, or possibly a damaged block causing combustion gases to enter the cooling system.

Get the car up to operating temperature, then take off the header tank cap carefully and watch inside to see if you get bubbles coming through. If there is a steady stream of bubbles then that is almost certainly pointing at gasket/block failure.

Smell inside the header tank. Does it smell of exhaust gases? You could also take it to a mechanic where he will do a sniff test, which tests for exhaust gases being present in the header tank, this will confirm it for you either way.

 

i'd do the headgasket for sure!
change for a genuine ford item and i would have thought that you would be fine,
it may have been rebuilt with a new gasket but who's to say that the gasket was fitted correctly/incorrectly?
the back pressure from the engine to make the hoses rock hard would not be from a water pump, and if the gasket is blown across a water jacket to cylinder then you wouldnt always loose water.
its an afternoons work to whip the head off, ford gaskets arent to dear and whilst ur there i would replace the exhaust manifold gasket with a genuine one too, just to be on the safe side as when i remove mine they never reseal properly!

 

i will have to borrow my cousins gas tester to see, but as stated a head gasket on a cvh is less than a days work so may pay me to do it even if it eliminates that as a possible cause?

one thing i will say is when the felpro gasket was fitted i dont think the head was skimmed?

 

best get it skimmed mate. was it even torqued down to corect settings and sequence ? it doesnt take much to fubar an alloy head mate.

 

FELPRO HEADGASKET IS YOUR PROBLEM MATEY NO GOOD ON 1600GET THAT CHANGED TO A STANDARD FORD 1,DOES YOUR HEADER TANK BUBBLE? THIS COULD BE 1 OF THE EARLY SIGNS OF GASKET FAILURE

 

well im confident that the gasket was fitted properly and tourqed down in correct order ect, but if the felpro was a bad option combined with not getting the head skimmed then its possible that this is the prob? i mean what other option is there? oh and the bottom end was a complete rebuild too.

 

another thing is it doesnt smoke, and it just passed the mot on emmisions? but still overheated while at the mot station?

 

all depends how the gaskit has gone, if the heads not warped then that wont be the problem, a standard head gaskit is good for 350, a member on here ran a 300bhp escort and used the standard gaskit, no problems.

and your timming wont be the cause of the over heating and the soild water hoses, as if its just over heating then yes but soild pips show that its the head gaskit thats your problem..

 

this sort of thing happened to mine. as above what everyone else is saying headgasket ! and 100% get the head skimmed/checked whilst its off only costs around Ł40. my hoses were getting rock solid but i later found out my head was lifting @ anything over 26psi. so got mine skimmed new headgasket and a set of arp stud and nut's. all good now

 

ok well ill whack a new gasket on it 2morrow and let u all know asap, even if this doesnt solve it i still appreciate all of you time and advice

 

you won't do it in a day I doubt, you must send the head for pressure testing and a skim is needed or you are pissing in the wind

 

yeah ill have the head off and readt for a skim in bout an hour, then my local place will do it for me while im smoothing the block face ect

 

ok lads i got alot done today and lost bout 45 stone while doing it in this heat lol!!

i whipped the head off and checked the gasket ect and all was fine so i was starting to get a bit pi**ed!! then when i checked to see if the head was warped i noticed some small gouges between the valves and water jackets in a couple of different places... so instead of getting that head skimmed i decided to rob my m8s head which he had just had completely rebuilt with a kent cam, i whipped out the kent and changed it with my power enginiering cam and put it all back together and voila!! no more over heating

so thank you all for your advice

 

glad we could be of service

 

did u use a ford headgasket this time??

 

Glad its sorted,

 

nice one mate, i had similar prob even after using ford head gasket but seems to be ok now, got a switch for fan and i just keep it on constantly.

 

yh i used a ford gasket buddy, and thanks again all

 

glad its sorted mate