Coolant pipe blown off?

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If there is enough pressure in the coolant system to blow a coolant hose off, am I right to think OMG HGF? The car has had strange starting tendencies of late also.
 
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Change the coolant resevoir cap first, if it's a valved cap. Could be that the valve isn't releasing pressure as it should, so it's forcing itself out elsewhere in the system.
 
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Any simple checks for HFG? It starts funny sometimes after being sat (friends 106 did this and that had failed) We stopped in asda got fuel and by the time he'd got out of the car the cooling fans had cut in. (car has previously been overheated badly I should add)
 
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They can go in so many different ways, there is a decent way to check using the coolant cap and resulting pressure, but I've forgotten what it is.

Steam out of the exhaust once the engine's warmed up, loss of power, coolant in the oil and/or oil in the coolant are the classic signs.
 
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:( It's not the tubby is it?

Starting problems would indicate low compression.

(car has previously been overheated badly I should add)

What happened there? Has it had any work since that happened?
 
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Hmmm, could be looking at a HG replacement then.

Is this the first time it's blown the hose? Fill it back up, make sure you bleed it properly and keep your eye on it. Make sure your mate doesn't rag it everywhere until he's certain the HG is ok.

First signs of overheating/loss of coolant/mixing oil and water you'll know.

When my dads' old 820 had HGF (rad leaked while parked up, overheated on the motorway) he drove it for a few weeks keeping it topped up. When the pressure started building up, you could hear the water in the expansion tank boiling.

One time I was in the car with him, he couldn't stop straight away so had to keep driving for about 100 yds before he could pull in and turn the engine off... it was so close to blowing a hole in something :eek:

edit... So it's a GTi instead of a GSi? What age is it? If it's not a convo, it'll be worth getting it fixed, or even do it yourself.

If not, I'll have it ;)
 
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Doesn't beat it? He only knows two speeds most of the time - Go and stop. Bloody thing just passed the MOT too! Its the first time its blown a hose yes.

However he's just put a new turbo on there so I'm thinking maybe he didnt tighten the rad hoses up enough. That or he didn't bleed it properly. Can a large amount of air cause this (would the air also cause the cooling fans to come on after a second or two?)

Cheers for the replies guys
 
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Yep, if there's air in the system, the water won't be circulating properly. If a hot patch of water flows past the CTS it'll knock the fans on (or is it the rad switch that controls the fans on the turbo... I can never remember).

Bleeding it is very easy... fill it up, leave the cap off, start engine and the air should find its way to the top on its own. Give it a few revs (I usually hold the revs around 3000rpm) for a minute to force the air through.

If the water in the expansion tank goes down, top it up. The middle ridge on the tank is where it should be when cold.
 
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AGW - Its a L reg 220 GTi turbo. He loves the car to bits, who wouldn't. I was going to agree with you in that bhp/£ thread nothing really beats a Rover tubby.
 
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So it's rare as **** then! DON'T let him break it!

If Simon or Cableguy sees this... what year did the GTi Turbo's stop having the M series in?
 
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M series was the engine the T series was based on. Few small differences... main thing is the pistons in the M-Turbo's could take stupid boost!

It's probably a T, but with the GTi's I'm pretty sure they did them with the M-Turbo's.

My insurance, next year for a 420 GSi Sport Turbo will be £1300.
 
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Ahhh, I thought not. Knew the NASP's were in the GTi's though.

Nah, keeping the 220. Just the 420 was the first numberplate I came across. Paying that much for insurance doesn't bother me. It'll be nice when it comes down to £800 in March for the 220 but I've been paying stupid amounts for insurance since I was 18.
 
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Soldato
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220engine.jpg


AGW - The pipe that gets solid is excellently illustrated in this fine borrowed picture by the purple circle. The pipe that blew off is in red.

As I said to you over mobile msn just so others might have some idea. We had the engine running with the cap off the coolant tank and when ash turned the car off it boiled right over.
 
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