Is it terminal?

TheFarrier

I'm sitting at the roadside in my van, a transit connect. The heater has been blowing cold air for the last day or two.
Driving to work this morning the oil temp gauge shot up to the last, and almost immediately lost power. At first I thought the head gasket was blown, but I pulled the dipstick and it was fairly low on oil. When I opened the oil filler cap a tiny bit of smoke blew out.
I religiously check the oil and coolant levels every week, and found no low levels until now.

Have I just killed my engine??

Bigus

TheFarrier wrote: »

I'm sitting at the roadside in my van, a transit connect. The heater has been blowing cold air for the last day or two.
Driving to work this morning the oil temp gauge shot up to the last, and almost immediately lost power. At first I thought the head gasket was blown, but I pulled the dipstick and it was fairly low on oil. When I opened the oil filler cap a tiny bit of smoke blew out.
I religiously check the oil and coolant levels every week, and found no low levels until now.

Have I just killed my engine??

No

TheFarrier

Bigus wrote: »

No

Really?? Any chance you could elaborate a little??

Thank you.

Henry Ford III

Transit Connect doesn't have an oil temp. gauge I think.

TheFarrier

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Transit Connect doesn't have an oil temp. gauge I think.

You could be right, water temp gauge maybe??

Bpmull

TheFarrier wrote: »

You could be right, water temp gauge maybe??

Ye it would be the water temp gauge you say rise. Was the fan cutting in at all ?

corktina

when the heater blew cold, you should have checked the coolant level straight away. It sounds like you have lost your coolant to me. Might be OK yet. Get it checked over.

Kenny Logins

Yeah, sounds like no/low coolant. Did you leave the cap loose on one of your checks?

TheFarrier

First thing I checked when I popped the bonnet was the fan, couldn't hear it running.

My dad pulled the van to the garage, I had to take his car to work, hoping to hear from the mechanic sometime this evening, but seeing as its not a job that was booked in its hard to know when he'll get a chance to look at it.

I stopped as soon as the temp shot up, so I'm hoping there's not a whole lot of damage. My dad says he found foam in the coolant when he looked, he reckons that's a sign of head gasket trouble, I found no white residue in the oil, any ideas if that might be the case??

Thank you all so much for your replied

TheFarrier

Back for some more advice lads. Finally got the van back on the road last week, everything going fine, took it on the first good spin since I got her back today(3 hours plus) no bothers.
Radiator is leaking in a minor way, nothing major, but I put in a rad sealer and topped up on coolant about an hour ago.
Since then the heater is blowing cold for the most part, odd bursts of heat. I had no problems with this until after I topped up, and I'm panicking slightly.
Can anyone shed some light on this, I'm a bit far from home for stuff to be going wrong.
Thanks

pippip

Sounds like you might have an airlock in the system. Needs to be bled.

Toyotafanboi

there's a good chance that the rad stop leak **** you added blocked up the heater matrix i'd say.

probably shouldn't have added it and just kept topping up the coolant until you got home and found the source of the leak, provided it wasn't overheating.

hiluxstihl

airlock, thermostat trouble, if its cold and was always cold the interior radiator could be blocked, if it uses water the head gasket could be gone, watch the temp gauge all normal driving it should be mid way on the temp gauge after a mile or two driving, anyhting else you may investigate further

TheFarrier

pippip wrote: »

Sounds like you might have an airlock in the system. Needs to be bled.

It was only given a full service a week ago today.
Is that a problem that could prevent me from getting to work, or will it turn nasty when I hit the motorway home again on Friday??

Thanks

mloc123

Head gasket gone? A lot of the signs there anyway.

TheFarrier

mloc123 wrote: »

Head gasket gone? A lot of the signs there anyway.

My mechanic says its not, I only hope it stays going till Friday evening. It can explode for all I care then.
Any tips/advice on keeping it going??
No long spins till Friday, 3 hours home then

biko

Do a back flush on the radiator and fill it up with coolant mix, make sure to bleed.

grainnewhale

If the radiators leaking put a new radiator in. Don't put crap in it.

TheFarrier

biko wrote: »

Do a back flush on the radiator and fill it up with coolant mix, make sure to bleed.

I doubt ill be able to do that before the weekend, is an airlock likely to cause overheating on long journeys?? If I can get the van home Friday evening things will be hunky dory, but until then there's not much I can do. Am I taking too much of a risk driving it the way it is?

hiluxstihl

frankly youcan destroy the engine in 3 minutes running hot or less, what did your mechanic say?

TheFarrier

hiluxstihl wrote: »

frankly youcan destroy the engine in 3 minutes running hot or less, what did your mechanic say?

He spent a week checking out the van and told me the head gasket is not damaged, it had ran out of coolant, causing overheating, but the engine had been stopped in time to prevent any damage. Gave it a full service.

My dad spent a week with the van at home, while I took his car. Apparently it is losing a tiny drop of coolant while the engine is running, nothing major.

I took the van to work this morning.
Today I fired in a rad sealant and topped up with coolant, since then the heater in the cab is blowing hot/cold intermittently.

The temp gauge isn't rising any higher than it should

hiluxstihl

you might have an air lock in the interior radiator, that is if the gauge isnt moving up and down.... if your mechanically minded and not afraid to get dirty there is a cure, find the two hoses going through the bulkhead and squeeze them this could sort it, not too familiar with the connect though, more a general way

Toyotafanboi

sounds like a desperate **** mechanic.

cars lost all its coolant. full service and a coolant top up should sort it :rolleyes:

time for a second opinion.

TheFarrier

hiluxstihl wrote: »

you might have an air lock in the interior radiator, that is if the gauge isnt moving up and down.... if your mechanically minded and not afraid to get dirty there is a cure, find the two hoses going through the bulkhead and squeeze them this could sort it, not too familiar with the connect though, more a general way

From a mechanical point of view I'd be more enthusiastic than skilled. That said I'd gamble away through most things if I wasn't so far from home, really can't be stranded. There's a garage beside work, would it cost much to get the airlock freed??

Thank you very much for your help so far

hiluxstihl

its just a matter of squeezing the pipes as the engines running, check oil and coolant, take the van for a hard drive, watching the temp gauge, heater dial towards hot and let it get warmed up, the water flow might just drive the air out, you can look for a forum dedicated to the van, the uk is far more popular for chatting about stuff, post on one and im sure someone will be experienced in heater problems!