Altitude sickness?

[christopoher murphy]

Just been on a 3500 mile round trip to southern Spain done all the usual checks before i went including steam cleaning the rad to get all the $$$$ out of it and mud out of the fins. the whole trip went fine but when comming back over the pyrannees mountains the surf decided to chuck all the coolant out of the expansion tank so i pulled over in one of Spains many rest stops let her cool down re filled and carried on. the same happened again in southern France so i let her cool down and re filled i never let the temp guage go into the red but every time now she seems to loose coolant in her top hose but doesent over heat and the blowers blow hot air as they have always done. so is there anything wrong with the surf or was it just too hot for her and the air too thin. alt reached 1800 meters. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Chris.

[Sancho]

When mine went in France, the mechanic there reckoned that 'maybe he does not love to make the mountain'. That may have been right, but my head was also cracked (probably long before I tried to make a mountain, it seems).

I'm not saying your head's cracked at all. All I'm saying is that I had been going fine for 800 miles right up until I hit an alp. Then it spat the dummy. The mechanic didn't seem to think that was too uncommon.

Any leaks? Is your water pump still working?

In my not very learned opinion (my knowledge basically extends to all the water coming out of mine up a mountain once too), check all the hoses are fine, that the coolant's properly topped up and that there's no funny noises and then you've done as much as you can.

[christopoher murphy]

When mine went in France, the mechanic there reckoned that 'maybe he does not love to make the mountain'. That may have been right, but my head was also cracked (probably long before I tried to make a mountain, it seems).

I'm not saying your head's cracked at all. All I'm saying is that I had been going fine for 800 miles right up until I hit an alp. Then it spat the dummy. The mechanic didn't seem to think that was too uncommon.

Any leaks? Is your water pump still working?

In my not very learned opinion (my knowledge basically extends to all the water coming out of mine up a mountain once too), check all the hoses are fine, that the coolant's properly topped up and that there's no funny noises and then you've done as much as you can.

Is there any way i can check the water pump is working your story seems a lot similar to mine going strong for about 800 miles then had a fit is there any precautions i can take so it doesent happen again. The surf does seem to have a weird water system though every car and truck i have seen has an expansion tank which is pressurised along with the rest of the system wonder if anyone has ever converted one. Cheers.

[Sancho]

Is there any way i can check the water pump is working your story seems a lot similar to mine going strong for about 800 miles then had a fit is there any precautions i can take so it doesent happen again. The surf does seem to have a weird water system though every car and truck i have seen has an expansion tank which is pressurised along with the rest of the system wonder if anyone has ever converted one. Cheers.

Yeah, it seems weird to me too. Most cars seem to have bleed valves in convenient locations for when you need to top it up too.

Anyway, I am no mechanic nor am I Quincy. However, the evidence pointed towards my harmonic balancer (crankshaft pulley) having been on the way out and not driving the water pump properly. You could hear it squeaking as bits rubbed bits they shouldn't be rubbing.

What happened after southern France? Nothing, you just drove along?

[christopoher murphy]

Yeah, it seems weird to me too. Most cars seem to have bleed valves in convenient locations for when you need to top it up too.

Anyway, I am no mechanic nor am I Quincy. However, the evidence pointed towards my harmonic balancer (crankshaft pulley) having been on the way out and not driving the water pump properly. You could hear it squeaking as bits rubbed bits they shouldn't be rubbing.

What happened after southern France? Nothing, you just drove along?

yeah pretty much just let her cool down and topped it up and the surf was ok all the way home just checked it now and there is water in the top hose and everything just like nothing ever happened, thing is i have seen hilux pick up trucks and 4 runners on the TV and abroad in really hot countries (hotter and up mountains) and i wonder how they keep them on the road but mine and it seems a lot of other peoples surfs just overheat like to know what they do to them, probably just take the thermostats out. Trucks hauling full loads dont seem to overheat either on the mountain passes which i thought would struggle with heat soak. was thinking about fitting an engine oil cooler so it got rid of some of the heat from the engine. putting the air con on really heated the surf up too because after the overheating incident i put the blowers on full to help dissipate some of the heat which seemed to help part from baking my girlfriend and i.

how did you get yours back from France with a cracked head?

Chris.

[Sancho]

how did you get yours back from France with a cracked head?

Chris.

Like this.

Me, four other people, five snowboards and five people's luggage for ten days returned via a taxi, a hire car, a ferry and another taxi. From Lyon. All courtesy of Britannia Rescue. They're heroes.

I have no idea if your head's been done. I get the feeling that some people with 'no head trouble' have just never towed or hit a mountain. Everything gets bl00dy hot then and it's then that it reveals itself. Small cracks probably have little or no effect on easy drives but they open right up when it starts struggling.

That's my tuppence anyway.