water woes..

[wardie]

Anyone have any ideas?

I have recently rebuilt engine - 3vzfe, but it keeps using water.. it had new radiator, new HFH all the way fromt the block to the matrix new thermostat and new rad cap and the pump was in good condition and not one of the ones which was badly designed.

since then the car keeps having low water when checked, i bled it in the correct way but i have to keep topping the water up as it gets down the filler neck, and not in the top pipe from the rad to the filler neck.

yesterday i ran for 40 miles and then had a touch of traffic 10 mins or so on motorway and it developed a misfire and i had to hard shoulder it. on inspection the misfire was really bad with no pull and the expantion tank had spilled over.

i got towed as was unsafe to work on, and at the services the misfire was slightly better but water was low.

on arriving home the misfire was all but gone.

the misfire and the water might not be linked but i dont know for sure as the misfire has been appearing slightly in the past month when engine warm.

the last thing is that the temp guage didnt rise above half way, but i will have to check its working correctly, as i had to reposition the needle to remove some gash white dials, i will check the resistance to temp and check its correct but i believe it is, althought the water level always seem to drop below the height of the sender anyway!

anyone got any ideas? does it just need a re bleed? or is it the rad cap? its a halfrauds cap.. anyone got bad expeiances of them?

cheers!

[AlunJ]

Any sign at all of any visible leaks outside the engine, or damp marks under the car when you move it for the first time in the day?
Was the engine rebuilt to rectify any specific fault, or done as a peace-of-mind thing?

[Paul Woods]

Also what quality of gasket was used on the rebuild? Ebay ones or Payen/British gaskets or Toyota?

[wardie]

The rebuild was a peace of mind thing and also to get the heads ported by Tony, but there was some fire ring corrosion on the block and head which lead to both being skimmed, and just before i tore it down it was using some water like this but that was after being stood for a year. the gaskets where the ones from eBay USA that where popular on here a while back when exchange rate was better. There is not water in oil, no condensation in exhaust gases and no obvious leaks at all. Just over flow from expansion tank. Also no gases in the water ie no bubbling as if the head gasket has gone.

I'm still thinking that the rad cap isn't allowing water to be pulled back in on cool down or I keep getting an air lock. Gonna try a re bleed again tonight!

[Garbe]

Have you checked that both rad pipes get hot and the rad fan kicks in? May be a dodgy thermostat or fan switch or fuse.