Ok got a few problems that thought maybe some people here would know whats going on.

First of all the car is a TR astron auto with 168,000km. A few months ago i posted on here saying that the car was losing all it's water within about 3 weeks. Well anyways that problem somehow just disapeared(from memory actually the problem went away when we first bothered to put coolant in it. Usually we have coolant in it but we weren't going to put a whole thing of coolant in it if it's just going to lose it every 3 weeks). I should mention that it wasn't losing it through the head/head gasket because next time we got the oil changed there was nothing unusual about the oil.

Ok so that problem seemed to disappear for about 5 months until suddenly it started overheating again. So we check the water reservoir and its still full to the top with coolant yet in the actual radiator itself there was nothing. So we take off the radiotor cap and fill it up with straight water. Alright, so all seems good till about 2 weeks later when once again it starts overheating. Same problem, reservoir is full yet the actual radiator is empty. Can anyone explain this? Logical solution would be that the thermostat is jammed shut yet then wouldn't it be constantly overheating? It has been like this for about 2 months. We'll get it looked at next service which is coming up soon. I just thought i'd ask here first in case it would be a simple cheap fix such as the thermostat.

Ok on to the 2nd problem. It makes the usual astron rattles which is starting to get irritating. I have read on the internet some owners of astrons get a rattle for 2-3 seconds when first starting the engine. They say this is because the oil pump hasn't completely started circulating the oil yet. Ok, we have this problem aswell but thats not what im worried about. When at operating temp on idle it makes a sound very similar to this but not quite as loud but still alot louder than it should be. Yet when you rev it >1500rpm this sound dissapears. Is it something as simple as a rooted oil pump or is there more to it?

Ok, 3rd problem. You will have all read about the rattle problem above but that is only at operating temp. On a cold engine is has never had that rattle but another problem has emerged. After a cold startup for the first 4-6min it makes what you would call a ticking sound and seems to run on about 5kw. It has no power whatsoever. Accelerating down a flat street it struggles and it seems the further you put your foot down the slower it goes. Yet then when the car starts to get to operating temp the tick disappears and the car is back to normal power. Anyone have any idea the problem here?

Alright finally last niggly thing. The radio. It's the stock radio so pretty crappy but before i buy a newer head unit i need to find something out. It has had this problem for 10 yrs now. The right speaker doesn't work and FM only picks up static. This was my mums car and all she did was listen to AM so it wasn't a issue for her but it is for me now. The unusual thing is as soon as you turn on the air conditioning FM is as clear as a whistle. Now would you just say that the speaker and FM problem is just the ****ty head unit problem or is there more to it. To fix it would it be more trouble than it's worth or would it be fairly simple?

Yeh long post i know. Hope y'all can help :D

Ok so that problem seemed to disappear for about 5 months until suddenly it started overheating again. So we check the water reservoir and its still full to the top with coolant yet in the actual radiator itself there was nothing. So we take off the radiotor cap and fill it up with straight water. Alright, so all seems good till about 2 weeks later when once again it starts overheating. Same problem, reservoir is full yet the actual radiator is empty. Can anyone explain this? Logical solution would be that the thermostat is jammed shut yet then wouldn't it be constantly overheating? It has been like this for about 2 months. We'll get it looked at next service which is coming up soon. I just thought i'd ask here first in case it would be a simple cheap fix such as the thermostat. replace the radiator cap? there is a valve in there that opens when the coolant under pressure - and allows the excess coolant to go to the reservoir... if the reservoir gets full, it dumps it on the road...

radiator cap is easy and cheap to replace... also, my radiator caps occasionally leaks coolant... you can tell cos there's green dots/runs on everything in the engine bay...

Blockage maybe? try replacing radiator cap but i dunno how that would help (though i dont really know much about radiators lol).

Now onto the your engine problems, i experience the EXACT same thing, 2-3 second rattle on start up, then idle rattle when warm, but no rattle above a certain RPM. I have been told that these are the early signs of needing a new timing chain OR it could just need tightening. I'll let you know cuz i'm getting my engine worked on next month, getting it fixed so i can tell you exactly what it was.

My car is abit gutless on cold starts sometimes too. Dont really get the ticking sound though, check all your gaskets. I remember now my car made abit of a ticking/rattle sound and it turned out to be the exhaust manifold gasket. Ticking could be noisy tappets?

I had the same problem with my coolant filling the overflow bottle and constantly draining the radiator. I found a small crack in the white top of the overflow bottle which was causing the problem. When the coolant got hot it would overflow into the bottle (which is meant to do) but when the coolant cooled and tried to suck back the coolant from the overflow bottle it only sucks back air and not the coolant because of this crack. I just replaced this white cap and problem solved. Radiator is always full of water now.

The third problem I also had. When the car was cold in the morning it was gutless and got worse the more I put my foot down but was fine when at operating temp. It made the horrible ticking noise at startup as well. I thought it was the lifters and changed them but it made no difference (the ticking was still there and it was still gutless). I found the problem to be dirty injectors. I took them out and had them cleaned and have not had the trouble ever since, plus as an added bonus the car idles better and is more responsive to the accelerator. It took about 20mins to take them out. Cost me $25 each to have cleaned and took 20mins to put back. My car had done just over 200,000 k’s.

Hope this helps

Blockage maybe? try replacing radiator cap but i dunno how that would help (though i dont really know much about radiators lol).


:doubt: idiot..........

_92_Magna, take your car to a radiator specialist and get the whole cooling system pressure tested....if there is a leak, which it sounds like there is, then they'll find it. Could just be a pinhole in one of the hoses that only starts to leak when the system is under pressure.

Now onto the your engine problems, i experience the EXACT same thing, 2-3 second rattle on start up, then idle rattle when warm, but no rattle above a certain RPM. I have been told that these are the early signs of needing a new timing chain OR it could just need tightening. I'll let you know cuz i'm getting my engine worked on next month, getting it fixed so i can tell you exactly what it was.

My car is abit gutless on cold starts sometimes too. Dont really get the ticking sound though, check all your gaskets. I remember now my car made abit of a ticking/rattle sound and it turned out to be the exhaust manifold gasket. Ticking could be noisy tappets?

So mate, did you get your engine worked on? What was the problem?

So mate, did you get your engine worked on? What was the problem?
booking it in for friday next week :). Will get back to you.

I had the same problem with my coolant filling the overflow bottle and constantly draining the radiator. I found a small crack in the white top of the overflow bottle which was causing the problem. When the coolant got hot it would overflow into the bottle (which is meant to do) but when the coolant cooled and tried to suck back the coolant from the overflow bottle it only sucks back air and not the coolant because of this crack. I just replaced this white cap and problem solved. Radiator is always full of water now.
Same thing when my TN's alternator "fan" chewed on the rubber hose
and caused a little hole. Radiator dry when overflow still full.

check your carpet cause a mate's metor was leaking and over heating the same way as you described,it was the heaterbox it maybe leaking

I had the same problem with my coolant filling the overflow bottle and constantly draining the radiator. I found a small crack in the white top of the overflow bottle which was causing the problem. When the coolant got hot it would overflow into the bottle (which is meant to do) but when the coolant cooled and tried to suck back the coolant from the overflow bottle it only sucks back air and not the coolant because of this crack. I just replaced this white cap and problem solved. Radiator is always full of water now.


Hmm mate i just realised today that yeh u were right. The plastic cap on top of the overflow bottle has worn away/corroded and a crack has appeared. What i dont understand though is that you said when the water in the radiator gets hot it dumps it into the overflow bottle. This cant be the case in my situation because everytime the radiator empty's we just fill it up with straight water(it has now increased to the point where it loses a full radiator of water every two days, this is why we just fill it up with water, no point putting coolant in if it's just going to lose it all), yet the overflow bottle still has coolant in it from before this problem emerged. If the hot water was getting dumped in the overflow bottle(keep in mind we've had this problem since april so 5 months worth of water getting dumped in there is alot) the water in the overflow bottle wouldn't still be a bright green colour.

The only conclusion i can come to is because the water isn't getting transfered between the overflow bottle anymore, the water in the radiator is staying at a higher temp than normal(should be low 90 degree's now high 90's) and maybe occasionaly slightly boiling but not enough to register more than 50%(operating temp) on the guage. Whenever it boils the water turns to steam and evaporates and dissapears. I dont know, i have a very limited knowledge but this is all i can come up with because i am nearly positive it is not being dumped in the overflow bottle, then again when i think of it, there is no logical reason why it isn't dumpting it in the overflow bottle. I'm confused :nuts:


check your carpet cause a mate's metor was leaking and over heating the same way as you described,it was the heaterbox it maybe leaking

Sorry i didn't quite understand what you were saying, whats a heaterbox and what do you mean check the carpet? Sorry you kind of lost me there lol


Same thing when my TN's alternator "fan" chewed on the rubber hose
and caused a little hole. Radiator dry when overflow still full.

This sounds like it could be a possibility but how exactly would i find out it's the hose. I doubt just by looking at it you could see the leak....

The only conclusion i can come to is because the water isn't getting transfered between the overflow bottle anymore, the water in the radiator is staying at a higher temp than normal(should be low 90 degree's now high 90's) and maybe occasionaly slightly boiling but not enough to register more than 50%(operating temp) on the guage. Whenever it boils the water turns to steam and evaporates and dissapears. I dont know, i have a very limited knowledge but this is all i can come up with because i am nearly positive it is not being dumped in the overflow bottle, then again when i think of it, there is no logical reason why it isn't dumpting it in the overflow bottle. I'm confused ....
Is the radiator cap ok?

If its dodgy, water could just be escaping from the cap when pressure rises.
You'll see water marks all around the radiator header then.

Or if the little rubber hose connecting radiator overflow to the bottle is busted...


btw pure water doesn't boil until 100 deg C.
Coolant + water boils at 120-130 deg C.




Sorry i didn't quite understand what you were saying, whats a heaterbox and what do you mean check the carpet? Sorry you kind of lost me there ....
Hot radiator water runs to a little radiator (Heaterbox) under your dash.
Heaterbox may rust out and leak like your radiator - usually your passenger
will get wet toes. If you're a lonely driver the carpet will be wet and
usually steams up your windscreen too.


By the way the heater is connected to the engine's water system by little rubber hoses
at the firewall. These hoses must be checked and renewed if they're cracking and leaking.

If your engine runs fine etc etc but you're losing water bad from just behind the front wheels
it is probably one or both of your heater hoses busted.

Check all the hoses etc. Also in my old TR, the timing cover had a small hole up the top at the end of the water jacket, which caused a very slow leak. I'd get a mechanic to look at it real soon cos running the engine at higher temperatures sure ain't good for it, especially if the temp gauge goes near the red. I blew about 5 hoses and had the timing cover hole in my TR but I've always watched the gauges every 15sec to a min so I always picked up if something was wrong, the temp gauge never got past 3/4.

Has ur temp ever hit really high?

I think someone said earlier take it to a radiator specialist, they will be able to pressure test the system and check the cap for you. This should show up any leaks in the system.

We've had this problem with a car in our workshop before. It showed no signs of a leak there was no water mixed with oil or vice versa. the cylinder compressions were fine as was the cooling system. Upon stripping the motor down we found the block was cracked and the water was escaping through the exhaust. There was no steam coming from the back as that small amount of water vapourizes to quickly. This is only a possibility if there is no other explanation. But take it to someone with the proper testing equiptment


cheers

Brad