Davey D
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| posted on 26/4/13 at 09:54 AM |
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Have i got away with it?
I went out for a run in the VortX 2 weeks ago. it was a nice night, and the car was running great.
I was on my way home down a long straight country road in 6th gear doing around 60/70mph, and noticed that my oil light was flickering on a few more
times than normal ( crappy oil level lights on the yamaha engines) glanced over at the oil pressure gauge, and all was good, but then noticed the oil
temp had crept upto near 100c ( it normally sticks at around 75-80c when pootling around on the road due to the external oil cooler up front). I then
looked over at the water temp which is on the R1 clocks, and it was flashing at around 120c (usually hangs around the 80c mark whilst driving) in the
yamaha manual it says when its in the 117c - 139c range pull over, and let the engine cool. if it doesnt go down, then stop the engine. 40c - 116c is
classed as normal running temps
I ended up traveling about 1/2 mile more before there was somewhere safe to pull in. Temps didnt get much higher. I stopped the engine, and popped the
bonnet to see what was going on.... the bottom rad silicone hose had started to slip off the solid hose, and by the looks of it had just slipped off
enough to start spraying the coolant out, as the nearside of the car was covered in antifreeze.
looking back up the road, there was a long trail of where it had been leaking out. I competely pulled the hose off, and about 1ltr of coolant poured
out!
I gave my father-in-law a call, as he lived closest, and he arrived 40 mins later with some water, and a ratchet to re-fasten the jubilee clip. (
plenty of time for the engine to cool down)
We topped it up, gave all the hoses a good squeeze to help remove any air, and then started it up. It started, and run perfect as normal. let the
water get up to temp, and fan kick in a few times.. all seemed fine, so I drove it the final 10 miles home, again the car ran perfect with no
temperature issues.
A few days later I had a bit of time in the garage, so checked the oil, and it all looked good ( I had only changed the oil 100 miles previous so is
still a golden colour in the viewing window)
I let the car run for 20 mins. Oil looked good, running, and idle was good. I adjusted the idle to a fast idle for a while. Oil temps all looked good,
and water temps were good with the fan kicking in, and cooling it back down when it should. everything seemed fine.
Im going to borrow a compression tester from a friend to see if that all looks ok, and ill be draining my coolant to sort the solid hose out ( it
originally popped off as I didnt realise there wasn't a lip on the end of it to help retain the silicone hose when its clamped on.. Doh! i will
then be able to see if there is any evidence of oil in the coolant.
If both these checks work out fine, then do you think i have gotten away without any head gasket damage?
Is there anything else I can do to check?
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silky16v
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| posted on 26/4/13 at 10:09 AM |
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i'd say you'll be fine and caught it in time, if you want to double sure completely flush you coolant system, out new water and anti
freeze in and go for a drive around 25-30 miles use the full engine range, but don't thrash it
buy a sniff test kit Block test kit for petrol and diesel engines (original combustion leak tester ) | eBay
and see if it shows anything up
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Hellfire
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| posted on 26/4/13 at 11:25 AM |
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It should be fine, just use it as normal. We've completely lost the oil in our ZX12R engined Indy on two separate occasions. Each time it was
refilled and ran perfectly fine and is still going strong.
Phil
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Mikef
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| posted on 26/4/13 at 12:02 PM |
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Sounds as though you got away with it. I always find a compression tester is the best way to let you know whats going on.
Mikef
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ashg
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| posted on 26/4/13 at 12:36 PM |
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i would worry if it went to 140deg...
i have seen 120 on my saab engine after some proper dirty track abuse and its been fine after.
Anything With Tits or Wheels Will cost you MONEY!!
Haynes Roadster (Finished)
Exocet (Finished & Sold)
New Project (Started)
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adithorp
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| posted on 26/4/13 at 01:07 PM |
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As the oil temp was lower than the water it looks like you spotted it early. You've probably got away with it.
When you check it over, take particuly notice of #4 cylinder (timing chain end). If it's gone anywhere, it'll be there. The water jacket
only goes 3/4 of the way around so that one suffers first.
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire
http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/
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BenB
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| posted on 26/4/13 at 01:42 PM |
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Where's your water temperature sensor? Hopefully not near the top of the rad like in may installations! Otherwise it would be reading steam
temperature! That's the problem with cars that only have a water temperature guage- if you wee out the coolant the sensor will be in air and it
won't read correctly.
At least your oil temp stayed relatively low.
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Davey D
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| posted on 26/4/13 at 01:57 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by BenB
Where's your water temperature sensor? Hopefully not near the top of the rad like in may installations! Otherwise it would be reading steam
temperature! That's the problem with cars that only have a water temperature guage- if you wee out the coolant the sensor will be in air and it
won't read correctly.
At least your oil temp stayed relatively low.
looking at the R1 service manual ,the water temp sensor is in the head, just above the gearbox. That is what was concerning me, as the water temp
reading my not have been a true value of the water temp, as i dont know the rate the water was lost at :-(
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