Coolant overflow tank bubbling

[cisco]

My car has recently undergone a whole pile of upgrades all at the one time. They include: new turbo, new intercooler, new radiator, new exhaust manifold, new exhaust dump pipe.

Now what happens, is that after a bit of driving and say you then pull over and let it idle.. The coolant overflow bottle kind of bubbles a bit like its hot or boiling etc.

Temperature gauge still reads perfectly healthy (just under halfway). Car drives just fine and looks very healthy on the dyno etc.

Its something that I would have thought you definately don't want your car to do.

Can people tell me their experiences with similar problems and what it turned out to be? I'm really hoping not the head or head gasket. Can this happen from just a small leak say if the coolant line(s) to the turbo had a leak or perhaps there are some air pockets after doing the flush and coolant replace recently?

Thanks a lot.

 

[cisco]

Hmm "This can be aggravated by any overheating problem, low coolant system pressure, or low concentration of antifreeze."

This could possibly be the culpurate. I actually ran out of anti-freeze and made do recently, but it still looks very green.

I'll flush it and put in a very strong mix this time and see if it eliminates it.

 

[CMF_White Knight]

I will let you know later this week as I have same issue loosing coolant from resevoir. Temp gauge perfectly normal and amount lost from time to time ( not all the time) about 500 mls.
I had an overheating problem a while back when trying to get the Davies Craig elect water pump to work ( never buy one)and think I may have a small head gasket leak.
Lifting the head this Thursday putting on new gasket, bolts. Problem is sometimes impossible to see where it may be leaking.
Anyway 99.9% sure this is the problem. You should never loose coolant if all okay.
Car going like a cut cat, no water in oil,or bubbles in radiator that I can see BUT feel under high boost/revs it is leaking slightly.

 

[CMF_Toma]

Just a suggestion, but inspect the radiator cap.

Back when i had a mini i had this problem and had a rather green engine bay from so much coolant being in it. Turns out the little bit of rubber was crapping out and was prematurely leaking into the overflow tank.

I just hope its something that simple for ya!

 

[CMF_Sean]

Check the oil, if its not milky or doesn't have any signs of water/residue then you can rule out the headgasket 100%

Sounds like the antifreeze to me

Sean

 

[cisco]

Cheers. Yeah I think do. I specifically remember running out and going "oh bummer, ok i'll just put more water in for now and change it soon". It bubbles like its hot like boiling, doesn't look like random gas poking through the coolant etc. No fumes, no residue etc. I think that's it.

 

[CMF_evade]

get a higher pressure radiator cap? dunno mate sounds interesting..

 

[CMF_White Knight]

cOmpression test fine ( first step) then hey the theromstat!!
Looked shagged so in went new one and all fine.

 

[cisco]

Allright!!!!!!!!!!

Something simple. Well done. I'm very glad you sorted it out so easily.

 

[CMF_evade]

if the radiator cap is opening and letting pressure out of that little relief hose to the overflow bottle..(where the hose is connected on the bottom of the bottle) then the air would cause it to bubble?

i've never seen mine do that though..

 

[cisco]

Its easy for us stressed out owners of complex vehicles to jump to conclusions like "oh must have snapped a piston, or blown the gasket". That's how I always seem to panic.!

 

[CMF_White Knight]

Spot on Cisco. Always think the worst.Anyway good to do a compression test and well that it was a stuffed thermostat made it a happy day.
Also cleaned up a small oil leeak. Finding em is sometimes a real hassle but put it on the hoist overnight cleaned her all up and next day hey presto oil coming out of speedo cable where she enters gearbox. The small O ring in the inner drive cable stuffed.
So back to hammering away.

 

[CMF_glina]

Had the same with my K11. Bubbling in the coolant tank which was getting worse and worse with time. The oil stayed perfectly clean.
It was a head gasket fault - i've had water standing in one of the cylinders when the workshop opened it up for gasket exchange. Had my head bored for almost 2mm due to this ocassion (it had deformed), no other damages. Engine runs as fine as ever, even a little stronger in the low revs.
This was a 300 USD fix here in poland.