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dash16 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 255 Location: Cali Cali

So once the car warms up, it starts spewing coolant out the overflow. When it cools down, its not even to the minimum point on the resevoir.

Brand new WP, temp switch, radiator hoses, thermostat, and resevoir.

Also, when turning off the car warm, only one aux fan stays on, sometimes, while sometimes the aux fan doesn't stay on at all.

what's the deal?
_________________
1987 Porsche 924S Black/Black. 5-spd.
Options: AFX C79 261 398 423 650 651 657

1987 Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth Pearl Black/Black. 5-spd.

STUTTGART PREVAILS

gohim · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 4459 Location: Rialto, CA

It's the common 1987 924S Blown Headgasket.

Does the engine have around 100K miles on it?

edredas · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 861 Location: Charlotte, NC

When the coolant is spewing out, is the car overheating? Too much air in the system can cause the coolant to spew when the engine is not overheating.
_________________
'84 944 -White, Brown interior
'84 944 -Red, Automatic
'86 944 -Garnet, Fully loaded, Koni suspension
'87 924S -Red, 300hp 951 swap
'87 924S -Red, Project Car
'88 924S -Red, Daily Driver

Ian924s88 · Joined: 05 Aug 2008 Posts: 51 Location: Townsend MA

I had the same problem.. but I kept filling the coolant back up.. DON't! it's saying " I have enough stop!!"

blown head gasket?! really? wouldn't that spew oil everywhere? find that one hard to believe. my 1988 barfs up extra fluid when I added too much. I left it barf up the amount it wants, then I can be on my way.
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1988 Blue 924s

Rich H · Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:24 am Post subject:

head gasket separates 3 things:

water oil and the combustion chamber.

sounds like you have a combustion chamber to water jacket leak

The other failures you can get are:
oil in the water
Water in the oil
Oil in the CC (rare/hard to diagnose)

Other options are serious overheating which is boiling the coolant (Waterpump fail?) but you would get high temps on the dash.

Rich
_________________
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress...
1980 Porsche 924 S2 DITC Turbo - Original spec
1978 Homo-Sapiens - Tired spec
1953 Landrover S1 - Pensioner Spec

dash16 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 255 Location: Cali Cali

When I start the engine, it runs and purrrrs beautifully.
When I drive the car, throttle response behaves.

I don't see any oil in the coolant and the car DOES NOT overheat.

How could this possibly be a blown head gasket?

Mind you I just filled it with brand new coolant, drained the block and a radiator. Brand new WP, thermostat, thermoswitch, hoses, and resevoir.

I bet its just trapped air in the system. How do I get this out? I tried running the car when the heater on all the way.

The car has 140K.
_________________
1987 Porsche 924S Black/Black. 5-spd.
Options: AFX C79 261 398 423 650 651 657

1987 Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth Pearl Black/Black. 5-spd.

STUTTGART PREVAILS

masterdave · Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Posts: 183 Location: Harrison NY

the fan is not an issue it is actually working right. My car does the same thing at first i though it was an issue but i looked it up, it does that to preserve battery, if the fan does not come on that means that your car is cool enough that you are no in danger, the second fan is for the AC as well as when your engine gets really hot. but every thing is working fine even if only one fan comes on. As for the coolant issue you may also have a bad temp valve, if it is stuck open you may be experiencing too much water flow.

dash16 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 255 Location: Cali Cali

what is a temp valve?
where it is and how do I diagnose a problem with it?

also,

Paul · Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:09 am Post subject:

Please make sure the cap on your coolant tank is holding the correct pressure, or just replace it.
_________________
White 87 924S "Ghost"
Silver 98 986 3.6l 320 HP "Frank N Stein"
White 01 986 "Christine"
Polar Silver 02 996TT. "Turbo"
Owned and repaired 924s since 1977
Porsche: It's not driving, it's therapy.

edredas · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 861 Location: Charlotte, NC

I don't think you car is burping out excess fluid since you're level is low. As the air is replaced with coolant, your level will drop... most of the time the system is just trying to burp out air, but pushes out coolant with it and you'll have to keep refilling...

If there's no oil in the coolant/coolant in the oil, and the car is not overheating... you have way too much air in the system that's superheating and boiling the coolant; making it spew like when the head gasket is bad. There's several ways to fix this.... try putting the front end on an incline overnight with bleeder screw removed; (place something over it so nothing falls inside but where it can still breathe.)

In the morning all the air should be at the top. Leave the bleeder screw out and refill until the coolant is coming out of the hole. Replace the bleeder screw and continue filling the reservoir to maximum.

Drive the car for 30 minutes and watch the temp gauge... if it overheats, it's a bad head gasket... if the temp guage swings, almost getting hot then doesn't, you still have air in the system that needs to come out... if everything is looking ok, you're good to go!
_________________
'84 944 -White, Brown interior
'84 944 -Red, Automatic
'86 944 -Garnet, Fully loaded, Koni suspension
'87 924S -Red, 300hp 951 swap
'87 924S -Red, Project Car
'88 924S -Red, Daily Driver

Paul · Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:37 am Post subject:

We are assuming you followed the filling and bleeding procedure prescribed by the factory and Haynes manuals....

If not start over....
_________________
White 87 924S "Ghost"
Silver 98 986 3.6l 320 HP "Frank N Stein"
White 01 986 "Christine"
Polar Silver 02 996TT. "Turbo"
Owned and repaired 924s since 1977
Porsche: It's not driving, it's therapy.

gohim · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 4459 Location: Rialto, CA

I drove my 87 Ford Taurus Wagon with a blown headgasket for over 150K miles. I got away with it because the gasket failure was between a coolant passage and the outside of the block.

The engine only lost coolant when the ignition was shut off, and only a few burps.

Seems to me you could check to see if the problem is a failed headgasket between a combustion chamber and the coolant passages by getting some of those strips that are placed in the coolant that can detect combustion gasses in the cooling system (which would confirm a failed headgasket).

Testing the cap is also a good idea. How old is it, and have you inspected it for cracks in the sealing surface?

dash16 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 255 Location: Cali Cali

edredas · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 861 Location: Charlotte, NC

Rich H · Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:01 pm Post subject:

CC=combustion chamber.

tAs I stated above the headgasket seals everything it's possible to get oil/water/combustion and failures to the outside world for all of the areas sealed by it.

Does now sound like airlocks though rather than HG. The airlocks will cause local boiling of coolant - not general overheating - this overpressureises the system ad it then burps the coolant out.

Airlocks can be a bitch to shift.

Do you have access to an easybleed? (Common in the UK) for bleeding brakes? You can use them to presure test coolant systems too - it just needs a few PSI not 20... if the block is full of coolant the coolant level should not move much - only enough to account for the expansion of ruber pipes (ie cock all) if there is air in the system it will compress more and the level in the expansion tank will drop.
_________________
1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress...
1980 Porsche 924 S2 DITC Turbo - Original spec
1978 Homo-Sapiens - Tired spec
1953 Landrover S1 - Pensioner Spec