Radiator Expansion Bottle

[Billy2Rivers]

Help! I'm not technically minded! After a leisurely and trouble free 100mile drive back from Stonleigh, parked my Classic on the drive to have water gush from what I think was the cap of the coolant expansion bottle. This has never happened before. I did recently check the bottle when cold and topped up a little with fresh water. When the engine cooled down on Sunday I'd lost about half the contents of the coolant bottle. I've now topped up with more water. There are no other leaks from any of the radiator or expansion bottle pipes.

 

I'm booked into Dartford in a fortnights time for the annual service, will I be okay driving the 70 odd miles down there?

 

All assistance would be greratly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Billy

[Chris W]

Billy

 

I don't know which engine you have, but check the correct "max" level of the expansion bottle (marked on the side). For example on my K series engine the max line IS only half way up the bottle. Did you fill it full in error and that's why it's blowing most of it all over the UK?

 

Chris

 

1.8K SV 140hp see it here

[Phil R]

Hi Billy,

 

I had a problem with my 1.8 Vauxhall Classic where air was getting into the coolant hence the level in the expansion tank was increasing, the temp guage was a bit eratic and the fan was slow to cut out once it started. I kept bleeding the system every couple of hundred miles or so until I got fed up and decided to find out why. I ended up fitting a restrictor in the return pipe (small pipe to the expansion tank. Since then it's been fine. The restrictor was available from Caterham for pence (plus postage).

 

Just a thought.

 

/Phil.