Hi,
It is the 3rd radiator I fit on my car, the two first were leaking. Bad luck...
This morning, I fitted the 3rd radiator. After a long run, and a thorough check, it looks like it is not leaking. Finally
But I think I have now another problem. A bigger problem actually. Not the first time I notice it, but this time, I made a
video for you to see.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99498333@N06/11840767876/
The video only shows the first 7'30'' of the whole run, but the 5 first minutes would have been enough, and 7 minutes is still pretty long (and boring) to watch, so if you can't watch it completely, here are the key moments:
Time 0. I start the engine, cold, no problem. A bit of steam on the collector and the exhaust pipes is just due to a bit of condensation on these parts (yes, this is Sweden in winter !)
Time: 1 minute. A very thick and white smoke starts coming out from the exhaust. It looks like the head gasket is dead, no? Temperature of the engine is still cold if I refer to the temperature gauge of the dash board (which is working)
Time: 4 minutes. It stops smoking. Exhaust gas look pretty normal now. Why if the head gasket is broken? The temperature of the engine is still quite low, and is slowly rising, nothing looks abnormal when it comes to the temperature.
Time: 7 minutes: water hoses and radiator are still not hot. Which means that the thermostat is still closed, or all the water has evaporated during the 4 first minutes!
Time: 7'30'' : video stops...
Time 12-15 minutes : hoses and radiator start to heat up, which means that the thermostat is now open, and water (or steam!) is circulating. Temperature is still going up, but slowly.
Time 25 minutes: water temperature is at mid range of the gauge.
Time 35 minutes : Fan starts up now, water has reached the trigger temperature.
Time 40 minutes : I turn the engine off.
This was this morning. I checked tonight, when everything has cooled down, and the header tank was completely empty (I had to refill with about 1,5 litre of water). Is this a normal thing, or does than mean that this smoke was actually all this water being evaporated?
What do you think is my problem? Might these 3 minutes of white smoke occur because I put too much coolant in the circuit in the first place*? Or is my head gasket definitely dead?
Thank you.