overheating! what you think?

[drewmason]

hi all,

just replaced head gasket and had head skimmed and replaced water pump,

runs fine, still got mayo in water and still in process of cleaning it out, but when i fill water all the way to the top and go for a drive, the low water light flashes and it starts to creep over the middle marker so i cut it off to save doing another head gasket!

water seems to be under very high pressure?

any suggestions??

thanks,
Drew

[nige_s]

Did you put the gasket on the right way around, was it the right one.  Did you torque the head down properly.

You fill the res to the top!?!  Should be to the mark not to the top.

[drewmason]

yes it was right way round and it was the right one, yes i torqued it down to 40, then 65 then 90.

i didnt fill the reserve tank right to the top i just meant filled it up,

runs fine so dont know if im just being parranoid as ive fixed it myself!

[jamie_pyrite]

I'm sure the fan is meant to kick in at a little bit over halfway?

You can always short the wires on the radiator to kick it in manually and see what happens?

Is your radiator kicking in before you're turning it off?

[rubjonny]

its 40nm, 60nm then tighten a further 180degrees. you can do this in 2 steps of 90 degrees if you prefer

[jezza16v]

90 Nm ?  I hope not, could have overstretched the bolts.
Did you put a new thermostat in with the pump?
The coolant runs above the boiling point of water that's why its pressurised, to stop it boiling, so it will seem quite high. However if the gasket is leaking again it will be way high. When the pressure is reduced try taking the coolant cap off and smelling inside, if it smells of exhaust.........well......? Back in the days of old, there used to be a coolant that would change colour if you got exhaust gasses in the system.....not sure if there is such a thing these days?

[nige_s]

There are similar testers for checking if exhaust gases are leaking into the water.  Might be worth looking into that before going back over what you have done.