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[tunnie]

Took senny out to show my mate today, he was impressed with the smoothness and power for 300 quid!

Did a lot of slow driving (he had not driven in 3 years) going around country lanes, temp never went over 100, most of the time was at 80.

Towards the end we did a 0 to 85mph blast from a Junction, then pulled off the main road, another mile or so into a village... pulled up. Got out to discover loads of steam coming out of the front grill  

Bonnet up, and the Rad in front of the engine (one next to battery) was steaming on the right hand side (passenger) There was quite a lot coming out, but the temp never went above 100, and this is the temp is supposed to run at.

On the way home, after the engine cooled I took it on a hard run back. Overtake from 50 - 105 (private track) generally giving it stick all the way back for 11 miles. Got home, No steam  :-/

The only thing i can think of was i ran the air-con for about 5 mins to test, but this was on an earlier separate run about 2 hours before we saw the seam.

The Rad directly in front of the engine, is not in good shape. The coolant has gone down slightly, but not much.

Do i need to replace the rad?  :-/

[Taxi_Driver]

If its the same layout as the omega that rad is for the engine cooling......but im mystified why the steam has stopped....did i read in another sennie thread that you have flushed the cooling system? carnt remember but it maybe if you have.....previous owner may have stuck radweld or similar to stop a leak and the flush has dislodged it.....so maybe you might need another rad......but im sure a sennie expert will be along soon  

[TheBoy]

Was you able to pinpoint where the steam came from - rad itself, or bottom hose, top hose etc?

[tunnie]

Was you able to pinpoint where the steam came from - rad itself, or bottom hose, top hose etc?

Passenger side, not from the hose but the actual rad. Top right hand corner.

No steam from any ware else on the rad, what also puzzles me is coming back driving it hard all the way..... no steam  :-/

[TheBoy]

Over pressurising?

[tunnie]

Over pressurising?

What would cause that? - The header tank was heavily pressurised when i release the cap to check the level....

[Taxi_Driver]

Over pressurising?

What would cause that? - The header tank was heavily pressurised when i release the cap to check the level....

There would be pressure in the header tank.....and you lucky you never got scolded when you took the cap off.......never do that with a hot engine  

Isnt there a pressure relief valve on the cap as on Omegas?  :-/

[tunnie]

i released the cap sloowly as it was hot... as i knew the coolant would be hot.

What i don't understand is that i had no steam exiting the car on the way back after parking up  :-/

[JamesV6CDX]

Any coolant loss?

[tunnie]

Any coolant loss?

Very slight, not much. Header tank still fairly full.

[JamesV6CDX]

when it's been running for a bit, feel all the hoses, especially the top rad hose.

If they feel rock hard when squeezed, then it's over pressuring. On the Omega V6 this is often a HBV issue, not sure if the Senny has one of these.

On many engines, though, it can signify head gasket trouble (don't wanna scare you here, it could be anything still)

I would just drive it, monitor all the levels, keep a close eye on temp, see if the hoses go hard, and see what happens.

It's probably nothing, but in the worst case - Anyone for a headgasket party?

[tunnie]

HG nooooo!  

Its the first time its done it, just checked the coolant level again after moving all the cars around and it had gone down further than i thought. Lost about 1/2 litre... topped it up with Red. Taking it back to uni tonight will check the levels when i get to London.

Hoses seamed soft when I flushed the coolant on Jaime's driveway, all the pipes were nice and soft even after been running for 5 mins.

I pick my mate up on the way to uni, its about a 15 min drive. I'll check the pipes when i reach his.

Temp has always been good, never over 100.

[tunnie]

should add 24V S6 runs hotter than the V6's.

Temp gauge goes right up to 130... 100 is in the middle of the gauge.  

[Omegatoy]

sounds like you have a pinhole in the rad buddy,  rad doesent look brilliant  must admit!!! maybe best off removing it NS CHECKING AND CLEANING THE WHOLE THING!! if the matrix is heavily corroded would advise replacement or recore!!
Omegatoy

[tunnie]

sounds like you have a pinhole in the rad buddy,  rad doesent look brilliant  must admit!!! maybe best off removing it NS CHECKING AND CLEANING THE WHOLE THING!! if the matrix is heavily corroded would advise replacement or recore!!
Omegatoy

Cheers Graham  

Thought about txting / calling you but i bet you must get annoyed with me calling you every 5 mins when something is wrong!  

Pin Hole leak sounds a hell of a lot better than HG! - James is on a HG mission, Rovers, Omega's Senators!  

Anywho, i think you might be right there Graham, i think i might have several leaks around the top right of the rad.

When you say 'if the matrix is heavily corroded' your still referring to the rad?   - Sorry to sound thick  


Thats next weekends job then sort out the rad...