Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral boilin coolant liquid ????

hi yesturday i was drivin along wen i could smell this burnin so i pulled over and opened the bonet to see steam comin out of were i put the coolant liquid in i took the plastic cap off which was **** hot and all i could see was the water inside boilin and bubbalin ???

any ideas wats wrong

Engine coolant is a mixture of about 1/2 water and 1/2 ethyleane (is that spelt right?) glycol antifreeze.

The ethyleane glycol (EG) protects against your coolant freezing, but it does other jobs like helpin to prevent boiling in HOT weather.
EG helps the coolant keep your engine temp stable too.
Sted, was this burnin smell kind of sweet?? EG has a sweet smell.

I don't knw why your coolant was boiling Sted but maybe you don't have enough EG in your coolant. Have you checked your oil too??

Maybe that may be the problem?? I don't know if I am 100% or even 10% right on this mate.

Whatever the prob, I hope it gets sorted soon.

Suspect head gasket problem. Is there 'mayonaise' on the oil cap? (result of oil and coolant mixing).

Take care when taking the cap of the tank though, you can get very nasty burns, not just from the steam, the water can spray outwards when you take it off.

ya scooby if u could have a look at it that would be amazin as it is really startin to worry me and no its not a head gasket i hooe anyway !!

This might work though, stick a new cap on it, see if that does anything.

all sorted thx scooby

I wonder what it was then?

Would be nice to also read a solution

somethin to do with the mount of coolant / anti freeve or somethin lol not too sure !!!!

glad you sorted the problem out matey