Decisions Decisions

[gozza]

GDay fellas,

Last night i gave the beast a little stick off the line and shortly after i could sense a burning smell....

next thing....my battery light comes on.....great..ive blown my alternator...

next thing thats lit up was my temp light.....needle in red.....great there gos the head

i pull over and let the car idle for 10 mins then turn it off.....coolant was boiling but not leaking anywhere exsessively...i could see seapage in a few places from the rocker gasket...ok no problem.....i inspected the block this morning and i can't see any stains nor any leakage from the head...

check my alternator to discover the belt missing...

im really confused....it over heated really quickly and its not losing much fluid

any suggestions??

next drama is to what i should do....
my main concern is the head.....if its the head im going to either

a) get a tickford head from an el
b)whack in an el xr8/v8 engine.........

how easy is a v8 conversion on the ebs?

any help would be appreciated

cheers

[Gunns]

you cooked it good!

time for a fresh engine!

[gozza]

come on mate give me somthing to work with other than stating the obvious

[BOOSTDEF]

Ive had mine cooked plenty of times and it is still fine(still good bores and compression)....

Dont worry about it, next time it overheats however turn it off lol, dont let it idle.

The reason it overheated is because the water pump was not flowing the coolant through the system. So the coolant in the radiator stayed nice and cool while the rest of the coolant in the motor started to cook.

Fix the belt, drain and reflush coolant and oil and do a compression test and post it here.

If you still have good compression Dont worry about it.

[agony]

sounds like you got yourself a problem, go the V8 route.

[BOOSTDEF]

There would have been a slow leak out of overflow pipe... That would have been the steam you were sensing.

[gozza]

well i let it idle out of fear of heat soak...

well that makes more sense now why it heated up so quickly......

if compression is good then all i'll need is a rocker gasket

sorta hope its rooted tho....wanna v8 ...was gonna go cam and chip soon...so if i add that cost to the cost of a new head...i should be in business


for interests sake what are the main points of dropping in a v8?

[Dezza]

My parents had that happen to their EBII and after about 30-40,000kms since then, it still runs beautifully. Besides a new belt, it didn't need any work. Those fan/alternator belts are a problem in the e-series. They are very thin, so they're not designed to last.

[gozza]

i found this on ebay
is it worth a grand?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....MakeTrack=true

[neb]

Yes if the alternator belt comes off it means the waterpump isn't turning and it will overheat... It happened to me once before. The engine was still fine when it happened to me. Worst case is that you may of done a head gasket or warped the head... its not really that big of a job.

[gozza]

yeah well its got oxidisation around the rocker gasket

i know there shouldn't be coolant comming from there which may mean something in the heads ИИИИed..yes or no?

[gozza]

bugger just realised that the xr6 engine is an AU...they fit wityh a bit of grinding hey?

[Brent79]

If the needle is in the red, why did u let it idle for 10mins???

Brent

[gozza]

i was worried about it heat soaking

[big_waity]

I've never heard the term heat soking, but I do know that if the engine is hot, leave it idling so the water flows and cools it down, unless of course the water pump isn't turning. You weren't to know the pump wasn't turning, although, you could've popped the bonnet and had a looksee.

AS for a V8 conversion, buy yourself an EB with an 8 in it. Unless you wanna buy the 5.0 that 347stroker has for sale.

The AU motor isn't quite worth 1g and your engine bay will need a couple of mods to fit it, but it will go in quite nicely.

[gozza]

well theres no point having an e series 8 except for the noise me thinks

but for interests sake how much is he selling it?

i don't really know what im gonna do

i will start by putting a new belt on and see how the gaskets hold up

new motor/head is only the action ill take if the heads stuffed


yeah i didn't even think of the water pump waity.....and it was dark...couldn't see anything

[Damo]

that belt runs the alternater, water pump and clutch fan so if it snaps you're in trouble. I have cooked my car plenty of times.

[gozza]

yeah its such a crap thing to happen

[ebxr8240]

Any one with 1/2 brain would know that if alternator light comes on ..Chances are the belt has come off...
Just replace belt...Then if you are really worried just replace head bolts [$45] with new ones....
In some cases an overheated engine can run better when issues have been fixed..If there was still steam coming out of it ?? Chances are the engine is still o/k...
Replace thermostat they often throw the towel in after an episode like this...

[gozza]

yeah well i thought i cooked it (alternator)...didn't think of it breaking...maybe i don't even have half a brain...


it didn't see any steam....i just slowy released the coolant cap a little at a time then back on 5 or 6 times over 10 mins.....


ill replace the thermostat for sure

[gozza]

i drove it home 2

had to stop twice tho....would pull over before it got a cm or 2 before the red

it sounded fine and drove normally

[Brent79]

But hang on, u say the overheat light come on the dash? in my experience with broken belts is that once the guage hits the red, the light comes on. Ud have to run the engine awhile before u did any damage. How long was the light on??? Or didnt u notice it straight away? Chances are your engine will be fine!!

Brent

[gozza]

the battery light came on first
then the temp about 3 mins later.....thats when i double checked with the temp gauge

pulled straight over

waited half an hour...drive it a few k's...pulled over before the light came on......waited half an hour....drove a few k's before the light came on...waited another half an hour and got it home just as the light came on

as i said before nothing felt wrong with it...revved and sounded fine(not that i revved it much)

[Brent79]

yeah, it would be OK... mine hit red when my belt broke... stopped straight away..
Wasnt even steaming so i replaced the belt and she is still going strong today. Wouldnt worry bout the new engine unless its what u really want to do in which case it makes for a good excuse!

Brent

[gozza]

yeah well i was gonna be doing a cam soon anyway so thats the rocker gasket fixed

my concern is the head....coollant shouldn't be comming from the rocker right>?

[BOOSTDEF]

I really think you are getting something wrong... There is no way clear/clean coolant will come out of the rocker cover...

It would be a milky substance if it was.. I would look at the gasket where the thermostat housing is... Maybe its spraying upwards and the pressure caused by no movement of the coolant broke a few gaskets which could be the case..

where is the leak coming from?? (What area of the rocker gasket?)

[snypereb]

No coolant should not be coming out of the rocker sounds like you have cooked it mate! If you turned it off in this first place you may have saved it if your lucky you may not have cooked it but it sounds like it!!

[5L]

its common sense when it gets to the red u turn your car off and not drive it home