Xantia 1.9TD overheated

wotsupnow · Post by **wotsupnow** » 26 Apr 2004, 19:04

Temp reached 110 on the guage and after it had cooled down I put in approx 2 gals water !. I ran it untill the fan came on ( another question, there are two fans but only the nearside came on ) around 90 on the guage and following a 10mile run it didn't lose any water and remained below 90.
Also, I hadn't anything handy to make a header tank out of so instead got a bit of rubberr tubing and a funnel and put that on the bleeder near the injection pump ( black plastic thing with three pipes connected ) whatever I poured in the funnel came out under the offside front , but with the cap back on and the engine running nothing came out, is this some sort of valve ? is the front pipe that disapears under the ecu housing a drain ?.
Any idea where the water went in the first place ?
Pete

Post by **RichardW** » 26 Apr 2004, 19:59

It's likely that you have got a small leak somewhere. If the radiator has not been changed then that would be my first port of call - look along the bottom edge for green / blue staining.
I guess the water level has been dropping and it finally got to the point where there wasn't enough to circulate properly and up the temp went.
The pipe off the top of the expansion tank is the overflow pipe - if the cap lifts then any water released vents down this line. With the cap off and filling from the bleed screw you would certainly lose water down here. In the absence of a header tank, best way to make sure no air in the system is to remove the bleed screw with the engine running this will purge any air out - put the cap back on without stopping the engine though!
Let's hope you got away without cooking the head gasket!

wotsupnow · Post by **wotsupnow** » 26 Apr 2004, 21:01

Yes the pipe off the expansion tank is an overflow, but I was asking about the pipe off the front of the bleeder which goes down under the black ecu box towards the washer bottle is that a drain too ?. There are three pipes, one off the thermostat housing,one down the back of the engine and the third at the front which pours water out if filled via the bleed hole but doesn't with the bleed hole cap on and the engine running...
Pete

Post by **RichardW** » 26 Apr 2004, 21:40

Sorry, mis interpreted the original post.
Hmm, most odd! On mine there is no ECU there, so I can see that hose, and it runs back to the expansion tank- it definitely should NOT leak - perhaps that is where you should start looking! I cannot offer an explanation as to why it leaks when filling but not when running.
Oh, and AFAIK both fans should run.

Dave Burns · Post by **Dave Burns** » 27 Apr 2004, 06:00

You have got a major leak there somewhere, I would find it before using the car again, the reason water will run from a leak when the cap is off, is simply because air can be drawn it to replace the displaced water.
If air can't get in, water can't run out, unles of course the leak is so large that air can get in via the same path the water takes to get out.
One thing you can be sure of is that when the engine gets hot it will push water out of any unsealed cooling system.
Dave

NiSk · Post by **NiSk** » 27 Apr 2004, 13:12

Check the small hoses close to the engine block. I have bad experience of these splitting and only dumping out lots of water when the system gets hot and pressurized.
//NiSk

David W · Post by **David W** » 27 Apr 2004, 15:29

Like others I'm really worried this may have done damage. If you really got two gallons in then the thing was about empty of coolant. It takes a hell of a leak to lose that much, and usually the head gasket will not stand running empty.
You need to get a DIY header sorted and fill the system the proper way. If there really is water running out as you pour it in should be easy to see.
Had this once with a Daewoo 16V petrol. The rad drain plug had fallen out and it dumped all its coolant in a few miles. Amazingly once repaired and refilled it wasn't damaged.
Good luck.
David

Simon Canfer · Post by **Simon Canfer** » 27 Apr 2004, 18:02

So I suppose I should be grateful Valeo have blanked off the drain plug on my replacement ZX radiator! (I wasn't impressed when it came to draining though; I siphoned coolant out in the end...)
Simon Canfer
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by D J Woollard</i>

Had this once with a Daewoo 16V petrol. The rad drain plug had fallen out and it dumped all its coolant in a few miles. Amazingly once repaired and refilled it wasn't damaged.
Good luck.
David
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

wotsupnow · Post by **wotsupnow** » 27 Apr 2004, 18:45

Thanks for the replies, however, I don't think there is a 'major' leak as I ran it untill the fan came on ( which is as hot as it gets now ) and also went for a longish run, it's been used daily since the weekend and still has visble water when you take the header cap off.
Exhaust is clear ( no steam ! ) , prior to this it was last filled in December by Citroen when the injection pump packed in ( had them change cam belt and water pump at same time ). There is some ( a thin line across the top ) green/blue stuff on the fins of the radiator so it could be slowly seeping out over time, I'll have to keep an eye on it.

wotsupnow · Post by **wotsupnow** » 10 May 2004, 17:53

It looks like the radiator. Loses 2 pints/week. Ran it from cold at the weekend and when the thermostat opened and the top hose started getting hot I noticed small amounts of steam coming off the rad fins and a small amount of water on the tray at the bottom seen when unclipping the rad and pushing it back a bit. Still only one fan runs,
what exactly should be the sequence of these two fans ? diagram suggests both run in series at low speed or both at full speed and I keep seeing posts suggesting they come on for the air con ? why ?
Re changing rad, the intercooler is attached to it, does this come with the rad or can it be removed ?

Post by **RichardW** » 10 May 2004, 19:09

Rad comes without intercooler - they are just clipped together. Remove the intercooler hoses first as they just get in the way! Prepare for a fight to free the bottom hose from the radiator...
AFAIK both fans should always come on together. If you have air con, they are switched by the Bitron unit. They come on when the air con is switched on to provide air flow over the A/C condenser (in front of the intercooler!) to make sure the refrigerant is condensed.