Its dead!!!!!!!

[BobtailBogey]

Well think after suspisions the head gasket was on its way out ( vanishing water)  it is now finally clear....

Went and started bogey the other afternoon after just being left over-night and after a fair few turns as the battery didnt seem to great it started with a lot of squilling and then a huge bang and ran fine....

Turned out the Mount for the fan/Water pump belt tensioner had sheared off..............


drove to work yesterday and very low on power and the engine was knocking under load ( once warmed up slightly).. and still steam coming out the bonnet but it was not overheating, temp was just over half...

Any way after work didnt want to turn over very quickly at all ( possibly lack of compression due to head gasket??) anyway got aslmost home pulled up at some lights and it died......

Wouldn't start at all and just puffs of dark smoke coming out the exhaust while turning over......

Gonna have a look at it in some light in a min...

[Rossko]

A guess ; not kept antifreeze up to strength when topping up lost water.  The belt wrecked when trying to turn frozen water pump.

.. drove to work yesterday and very low on power and the engine was knocking under load ( once warmed up slightly).. and still steam coming out the bonnet but it was not overheating, temp was just over half...

You drove it with no water pump?
Steam = overheating, regardless of the temp gauge (which relies on water circulation i.e. a working water pump.)

Any way after work didnt want to turn over very quickly at all ( possibly lack of compression due to head gasket??) anyway got aslmost home pulled up at some lights and it died......

Lack of compression = easier to turn over, not harder.  You mave have seized the engine and/or finished off the head gasket and filled the bores with water.

[BobtailBogey]

right had a quick look and no water contamination in oil and it fired straight up with no issues whatsoever now im confused.... :-k :-k

[squaddie_fox]

probably too hot when you got to the lights, i would be changing the water pump and doing a compression test and checking the water for exhaust gases. run the engine if none of these draw up a conclusive result and check for leaks if you are still losing water. you might not be able to see any leaks straigh away as they will only show themselves under load...took me six months to find the one on mine. very frustrating.

[BobtailBogey]

yeah extremely frustrating think ill get the water pump off tomorrow and try and source a new mount for the fan belt tensioner.

How do i check for exhaust gasses in the water??

[squaddie_fox]

you can get the coolant test strips that will show the different PH levels, iirc, and that should tell you.

[bogie]

Its a v8,they do what they want 2 do,my heater matrix blew up a few years ago,it was like driving a turkish bath round,but it got me home with no water!