good mechanic

countrydude

hi all im new to this. i am looking to know does anyone know of a good mechanic in county limerick who knows his stuff with jeeps. i have a 04 navara and it has a problem with the cooling system. my usual mechanic cant trace the problem and is probably sick of me and the jeep at this stage. the jeep is filling the coolant into the expansion bottle and pressurising the system . ive got the headgasket checked with the sniff test and that came back clear. he changed thermostat and a rad cap both geuinine nissan. the rad was flushed and checked, no prob there. new water pump a few months ago and whole system flushed so hes at a loss and normally he is spot on. any ideas, thanks guys

tomwaterford

countrydude wrote: »

hi all im new to this. i am looking to know does anyone know of a good mechanic in county limerick who knows his stuff with jeeps. i have a 04 navara and it has a problem with the cooling system. my usual mechanic cant trace the problem and is probably sick of me and the jeep at this stage. the jeep is filling the coolant into the expansion bottle and pressurising the system . ive got the headgasket checked with the niffs test and that came back clear. he changed thermostat and a rad cap both geuinine nissan. the rad was flushed and checked, no prob there. new water pump a few months ago and whole system flushed so hes at a loss and normally he is spot on. any ideas, thanks guys

maybe try compression test to be sure....what exactly is the problem??#

also did he try pressure testing the coolant system??

countrydude

the problem is after maybe 10 or 20 miles there is excessive pressure in the system and about half a litre of coolant is pushed into the expansion tank. no overheating ,no bubbles in coolant when running with rad cap off and no other head gasket symptoms. system is holding pressure when checked but i dont know what pressure it was tested to and engine was rebuilt last year because of big end trouble. could a blockage cause this i wonder

Xennon

Howdy, You could try Jim (Caherconlish Motors I think), out the Tipp Rd and turn off for Caherconlish on the right as you head into Caherconlish from the Tipp Rd. Does alot of work with 4x4s. Though to be honest with a rebuild all bets are off.

navara man

countrydude wrote: »

the problem is after maybe 10 or 20 miles there is excessive pressure in the system and about half a litre of coolant is pushed into the expansion tank. no overheating ,no bubbles in coolant when running with rad cap off and no other head gasket symptoms. system is holding pressure when checked but i dont know what pressure it was tested to and engine was rebuilt last year because of big end trouble. could a blockage cause this i wonder

ask over in navara.net too

visual

Is there a separate expansion bottle cap.
If so was that changed too.

countrydude

visual wrote: »

Is there a separate expansion bottle cap.
If so was that changed too.

no its just an ordinary cap cause thats not part of the pressure system, its just there to catch the overflow and the coolant gets drawn back into rad as the vehicle cools down

tomwaterford

countrydude wrote: »

the problem is after maybe 10 or 20 miles there is excessive pressure in the system and about half a litre of coolant is pushed into the expansion tank. no overheating ,no bubbles in coolant when running with rad cap off and no other head gasket symptoms. system is holding pressure when checked but i dont know what pressure it was tested to and engine was rebuilt last year because of big end trouble. could a blockage cause this i wonder

hardly faulty/wrong rad cap??
or incorrect coolant

countrydude

tomwaterford wrote: »

hardly faulty/wrong rad cap??
or incorrect coolant

cap shouldnt be wrong as got 2 frrom different motor factors which were supposed to be the correct ones but had different dimensions so that was why a geuinine nissan cap was put on it. maybe a stupid question but what difference would the type of coolant make

tomwaterford

countrydude wrote: »

cap shouldnt be wrong as got 2 frrom different motor factors which were supposed to be the correct ones but had different dimensions so that was why a geuinine nissan cap was put on it. maybe a stupid question but what difference would the type of coolant make

heats at different rates/reacts different over longer timeframe

countrydude

tomwaterford wrote: »

heats at different rates/reacts different over longer timeframe

thanks for that info, something else worth a try

tomwaterford

countrydude wrote: »

thanks for that info, something else worth a try

possible blocked radiator perhaps???

or try infrared heat gun to see where engine over heating

visual

countrydude wrote: »

no its just an ordinary cap cause thats not part of the pressure system, its just there to catch the overflow and the coolant gets drawn back into rad as the vehicle cools down

I bet expansion bottle cap is your problem

Its all under presure including the expansion bottle

replace the expansion bottle cap . Cheap fix
Best to get original cap.

Tail Docker

I'm gonna say that it is your head gasket. I'm also going to say that the sniff test comes back negative, compression tests say fine, changing the rad cap makes no difference, changing the hoses/clips/exp.cap etc all don't work and flushing the radiator also doesn't work - as doesn't bleeding the system thoroughly using a higher than normal reservoir to feed the coolant in while bleeding, replacing the thermostat and making sure your water-pump is fresh, correct coolant mix, all exp.bottle hoses being in place -esp the inside one.

"IF" you have gone through all these items, and it still pushes fluid out the expansion bottle, the HG is leaking, and no amount of hoops, loops or poops will get around it. Either the head has warped slightly, the HG is not seated correctly, it is not torqued correctly, the bolts used were not fresh, the block needs to be flatted or whatever, but a vehicle pushing fluid out the expansion bottle usually requires a HG, despite what all the tests to the contrary say. Sniffer tests will not flag up a problem always - nor will pressure tests. Throw on a new HG after checking the head and block for flatness/cracks. Use new bolts. That my 2c.

This is also a common motoring mystery and people spend ages looking for the cause without resolution - the HG is usually the last, reluctant effort to fix as most will say "no, it's fine, try x, y, z...". Hopefully x,y,z will work for you, but if not - do the HG.

O.A.P

^^^ What he said I have been through the same rigmaroll a few years ago with a defender.
Nobody wants to admit to themselves that the expensive job needs to be done and look for ways to prove it.
Mine passed the sniffer test too, is it losing coolant at all maybe only a half liter every 300 km ? Maybe that header tank on the Nissan catches it all on a defender that tank is 3/4 full when switched off, so when the pressure built up it leaked through the cap.

countrydude

i see what all ye are saying i have no problem getting the head gasket done on it but i want to know for definate if it is as its not showing the typical head gasket signs like bubbles in the coolant, steam from exaust, water in oil, overheating or any other issues other than those i mentioned. i dont want to have the head done on it and it be the same afterwards, you see my point

Tail Docker

countrydude wrote: »

i see what all ye are saying i have no problem getting the head gasket done on it but i want to know for definate if it is as its not showing the typical head gasket signs like bubbles in the coolant, steam from exaust, water in oil, overheating or any other issues other than those i mentioned. i dont want to have the head done on it and it be the same afterwards, you see my point

Put it this way, if it was mine, I'd do the HG. I had a stilo in the workshop today, exhaust manifold cracked in bits from the heat, oil leaking out from HG, brown water, etc etc. Everyone told him "noo, not the HG, it's blah blah blah"... some fun welding up the cat, exhaust, lambda etc, not to mention the hg tomorrow morning plus flushing out all the crap the rest put into the system "to seal it up"..

O.A.P

countrydude wrote: »

i see what all ye are saying i have no problem getting the head gasket done on it but i want to know for definate if it is as its not showing the typical head gasket signs like bubbles in the coolant, steam from exaust, water in oil, overheating or any other issues other than those i mentioned. i dont want to have the head done on it and it be the same afterwards, you see my point[/QUOTE


]You wont be though, that's the fix.
If not sell it for parts on dondeal and make a few quid

countrydude

well the problem has finally been solved a 4 euro rubber seal that seals a metal pipe going to the heater that comes from the head. the metal pipe is bolted to the engine just above the injector pump so at least its not a head gasket or cracked head anyway

Tail Docker

countrydude wrote: »

well the problem has finally been solved a 4 euro rubber seal that seals a metal pipe going to the heater that comes from the head. the metal pipe is bolted to the engine just above the injector pump so at least its not a head gasket or cracked head anyway

Just to recap, you had no leak?? No coolant dripping down the block? If a heater pipe seal was gone, you'd be loosing coolant down the back of the block - common enough. How would that pressurise the coolant reservoir?

countrydude

no coolant drips on the engine. mechanic thinks when it got hot it allowed air into the system and as it is up fairly high on the head its one of the highest points on the cooling system so air replaced the coolant in the pipe causing an airlock , cooling system is acting like its supposed to since the seal was changed. just to point out the expansion bottle isnt pressurised on a d22 navara its just that a bottle to hold the excess coolant and as the coolant in the rad cools down the coolant in the bottle is sucked back into the rad through the rad cap