Well, i looked and it was really low on water....BUT i had only filled it up the other day....so clearly i have a leak. Would that be whats making it smoke from the rocker cap thing? I cant find the leak either
.How often should you have to top up the water? I have topped up the water and oil etc i just guess ill have to keep an eye on it. I Just dont want it playing up because i have riv run and L2B coming up!!
Sounds like a leak. I shouldn't imagine that would make steam / smoke come out of the oil filler cap, unless water is getting mixed in with the oil - VERY BAD if left too long!
<edit> forgot to add: Most prolly the head gasket is causing this, could also explain the smoke you see - it's steam, could also be comming from the back of the block, and not the rocker cover, if the head gasket has failed and allowing water to escape between the head and block to the outside.
Also, another random question... You know where you put the brake fluid, the wires coming off of the cap... What do the wires do? because mines kinda, umm snapped :s
They go to the "Mystery switch" (brake light test switch), if the brake fluid goes too low (due to a leak or problem with the brakes) the red light will light up on the switch panel. You need to get a new connector crimped on the wire and reconnect it, it's the ONLY warning that your brakes have failed!
Now im carrying around a bottle of water with me in the boot so that i can top it up if needs be.
Good idea, be sure NOT to open the radiator when it's still hot, the water can flash to steam and burn you badly. wait a while and squeeze the top radiator hose - if it's too hot to touch and is hard to squeeze, it's still under high pressure and needs to cool for longer. If the pipe feels quite soft to squeze (like when the engine is cold) then it's safe to remove the rad cap.
Should the water in the radiator be clear? because its really orangy colour, does that mean i have to drain it out?
In a word - NO. It should be blue or green for a carb engine, or in your case, for a injection engine it should be a sort of pinkish colour (if the correct coolant has been used, though many just use normal glycol green / blue). If it's deffo orange or redish / brownish orange, it means it's full of RUST and that it has prolly NEVER been changed, or has been running with just water in it and no antifreeze (antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors - prevents the cooling system from rusting ans silting up the rad). If it's rusty orange and not pinkish, it needs to be flushed out and changed.
With the loss of fluid in the cooling system, smoke or steam from the engine, and the rusty colour of the rad fluid (if it *IS* rusty coloured) I would be speaking to the place where you got the car, something doesn't sound right. I susspect this may be an old problem and has never been fixed or just quickly bodged up.
SS
Edited by Silicon Skum, 17 April 2007 - 02:38 AM.
