hi lads ,my sapph seems 2 be using alot of water could it be the head gasket? its done 67k and totallly standard
Ive checked for leaks and theres no white sludge on the oil fill cap and does not overheat.
And is there any point fitting an 82 degree thermostat to keep the engine temps down.any advice would be appricieated cheers

 

Have you checked to see if your front foot wells are dry? Could be leaking out the heater matrix?

 

there dry as a bone mate but the heaters blow cold tho could a pipe be split?

 

Yeah could be, have a closer look in that area then. If theres no leak, and your heater is cold, then could be you water pump. But if you say it doesnt over heat then maybe not!

 

ive just took the carpet up and the sound deadening is wet but not drowned .will i have to have the dash out 2 get to the matrix

 

i had the same with mine; you only need to take out the lower part of the dash and can squeeze it out - took me around 2 hours i think

 

Does it smell of coolant?

 

if i recall from a mate who fixed his he didnt need to pulk the dash out. He eid most of the work in the e bay near the bulkhead

 

no mate

 

Check the bottom of the radiator. Does it look like you drove to fast over a sleeping policemen? Then the head gasket is gone. Water pump probably too - it will be leaking a bit. No way of telling what happened first.

 

Is your oil level rising ?, it can be normal to use a(little) bit in extended city work if you do this a lot.
Other areas to go are obviously any pipes, rad and matrix.
I'm not sure on the possibility of doing the job with the lower dash in place but 99.9% certain you can't and if you could would take a lot longer.
I take out the lower dash both sides, disconnect pipes etc on heater, and pul straight back, the mounts where it secures to the body are actually slotted for this very purpose, you will then find a bracket that holds the bottom of the lower dash just under the ash tray area, drill out the two rivetts holding this, and remove, put back after heater goes back using a few self tappers.
If you look at the interior outlet vents at the rear of the heater unit you may see some staining fluid there.
It's a bit long winded job but dead easy.
Any point in 82C thermostat ?, a big NO, if you have a dicky HG this would not help, if the car is overheating this would give you slightly longer before it did, but is a bodge of the highest order imo.
A 88C stat will cause no trouble whatsoever, and give you a better heater, I refuse to use a QH or FORD stat due to them being shit, and only use WAHLER on every car now, you can get them for the cossie no problem.
2wd is part number 3021.88D50
4wd is part number 4256.87D50
So the std wahler one for your car is 87C.
My fans come in at 95C and go off at 92C, and it does some days 5-6 hours in stop start city traffic, doesn't even get at all bothered, and the 4wd cooling system is vastly better than the 2wd.
tabetha

 

Were do you get these Wahler thermostats tabetha??