overheating 202

[JasonK]

I took the holden from matamata to napier on friday, she overheated twice on the way down, so flushed the radiator and block with the garden hose, drove it, still dumped all its water out the overflow, then noticed a lil steam from the exhaust but no water on dipstick and thought head gasket so dropped a cylinder head sealer in as a temporary fix, still over heated probably quicker than before i have checked the water pump is ok, gave the radiator another flush and got a fair bit of crap out of it and it seems to drive ok but lost a lil bit of water so am still wondering if its the head gasket. what do you guys reckon??

[Requiemk]

check water pump hasn't actually snapped off impeller

new radiator cap

give cooling system a pressure test aswell to see where its going, might just be coming out the overflow cause of above problems.

[Jase]

would that be a vb/vc commodore wagon perchance?

i diagnosed mine by doing all the simple stuff first,

ie radiator unblocked with tanks off,

water pump and thermostat replaced,

headgasket replaced,

head planed and crack tested ,

bores checked at same time

likely just a headgasket remove the thermo stat and run with the radiator cap off

and see if its blowing exhaust through the water

[Threeonthetree]

would that be a vb/vc commodore wagon perchance?

I assume it's the 202 in his HQ:

Pictured posted due to awesomeness

[Steelies]

awesomeness confirmed.

[Hemi]

any coolant galleries in the intake?? ,

could be leaking thrugh that .

mine used to lose water till one day it bent a rod .

prob not but could be

i also would look at the cap like fuzzit siad , soo many problems can be caused by the wrong one of those suckers

[Unclejake]

Perhaps I am getting old but I am increasingly frustrated by car owners and helpful internet advisers replacing bits and spending money on overheating engines in the hope that a blown headgasket is not the real cause

A simple and cheap test of the coolant (it needs to be used JasonK) will advise you of the presence of carbon in the 'water'. If carbon is there it means superheated combustion gasses are getting into the waterjacket, probably via. a BHG.

It is called a TeeKay test (I think!) and your local mechanic can probably do it for you for $50 or something like that. Then you can decide what to do. Fore warned = large forearms

If you think the HG is OK and yuo have a cooling system problem then ignore the above and carry on as you were.

Grumble UJ

[durty]

Perhaps I am getting old but I am increasingly frustrated by car owners and helpful internet advisers replacing bits and spending money on overheating engines in the hope that a blown headgasket is not the real cause

A simple and cheap test of the coolant (it needs to be used JasonK) will advise you of the presence of carbon in the 'water'. If carbon is there it means superheated combustion gasses are getting into the waterjacket, probably via. a BHG.

It is called a TeeKay test (I think!) and your local mechanic can probably do it for you for $50 or something like that. Then you can decide what to do. Fore warned = large forearms

If you think the HG is OK and yuo have a cooling system problem then ignore the above and carry on as you were.

Grumble UJ

shouldnt even be that much, cost me like $20 last time i had one done

[EFI_LC]

The HQ radiator once on the older side can give major trouble for a 202, make sure its good, best option is a triple core V8 HZ which is what I use in my LC.

The next thing it could be is the thermostat either not opening or removed. Both can cause problems, if its been removed the water doesn't stay in the radiator long enough to cool down.

Other thing is the water pump pumping?

The head gasket is different for a Blue/Black compared to a Red as the 3.3 block has additional holes to allow for better cooling, once again this shows how the 202 was a problem if the cooling system is slightly malfunctioning.

Timing can cause extra heat, and the cooling holes between the head and block are small and can clock easily.