Waaa...floods & mechanic woes!?

[jpc 0]

Yesterday in the torrential rain I was tasked to go out on site at a client swhich invloved a trip thorough the borders...I wasnt happy.

About five miles in went through a pretty big puddle at aobut 20mph..me vr6 started stuttering or missing or wotever went round the next corner..an even bigger puddle!! stuff this turned around taking a detour back to higher ground.

By now the vr6 had sorted itself out and was running fine...low and behold my detour had taken into yet another flash flood (1.5 ft of water approx) of a road there was no turning back whilst going through @ about 5mph the woman driver infront decided to stop...noooooo. Anyways she got going again , now the vr6 was loosing momentum and chugging/missing got to the end of the puddle and chugged out at low revs and heard a few bangs come from under the bonnet!!, the car was running so badly I could only get about 40mph out of her!!

anyways phoned my mechanic, and drove the car slowly without reving it too the garage.

He looked over it and said i've been one lucky sod there didnt seem to be any damage however there was still a slight miss (it had mostly cleared by then)

He then started feeling the hoses then undid the coolant cap when it was ticking over!! coolant rushed out of the top all over the engine bay and the little fuse box nxt to the header tank.

He then went on to say he has relived the pressure on the system (it was well over max and im sure it wasnt when running hot b4) and it was over filled!..bearing in mind i've had ths car 5 days and the collant seemed ok when I bought it (fsh tho)

Now I noticed today after a 45mile run that the temp gage had risen to 105deg! I think it had always been vertical at 100 i think previous

Also I noticed last night whilst it was ticking overin traffic a slight bump or miss or whatever could be felt every so often and again im not sure if it had done this previous to this escapade!

Whats ur thoughts guys? I'm not mechanicaly minded at all and am a little paraniod about my new joy of a car.

Sorry for the mini story!

[jpc 0]

forgot to mention that it still goes like stink when warm and that since iv bought it it does jerk/miss when pulling away sometimes and have came to the conclusion that the leads/coil pack need attention..but its due a service in 2k so was gonna wait!?

[petervr6 0]

prob the lead thats causeing the miss when you pull away my leads have had it and does the same thing.

[jpc 0]

yea if u look ontop of the engine (where the leads run along the top in the grouve) one of the leads looks cooked almost mosted or burnt!! not throught the sheath tho...yet

[francisjonno 2]

rDont know what your mechanic was playing at if he took the cap off the expansion tank when the engine was hot.

It would have been the pressure holding the level in the expansion tank down when the engine was hot, but by releasing the cap he's probably introduced air into your cooling system, this would explain the rise in temp

To get rid of it:

-when your engine is cold (v important) take the cap off the expansion tank, top up very slowly if the level is below min, then start the engine (with the cap off) and let it tick over. As the engine warms up the level will drop as the thermostat opens, slowly top it up until it reaches the level and doesn't drop, then replace the cap and use your car, get it up to full running temp. Then let the engine cool down fully (over night) and once its cold check the level and top up as necessary. You may need to repeat this proceedure to get rid of all the air but either way keep a close eye on the water level for a few days to make sure it doesn't get low.

Alternatively if you not happy handling it yourself, take it to any decent garage and they'll be able to get the air out for you - shouldn't cost much more than the cost of the coolant and wont take long.

[ingham 5]

as vr6 engines have two water pumps an air lock is unusual unless the aux pump has packed up (always worth checking as i have seen loads of vr6s with non working pumps)