FTO AUSTRALIA

Found something strange this morning. Opened the bonnet and the radiator hose that goes from the filler to the radiator was flat (vacuum inside causing it to collapse). Is this anything to be concerned about or it is simply the fact that it was hot yesterday and was cool overnight and the water/air in the pipe contracted with the cooler temp and caused a vacuum in the pipe???. Hadnt started car before I noticed this.

Was looking at the cap and that certainly looks like it needs replacing as the rubber seal seems to be missing bits (falling apart).

thats weird, never heard / seen that happen!
If you squish it, can you feel cracks in the hose?

There isn't a blockage anywhere to make the water pump suck that hard ?

No, hadnt started car. No cracks in hose. Temp sits just below 90 and doesnt seem to shift.

Just went back down to the car now. has been sitting there for about an hour - not collapsed. Maybe it was just the temperature differential (between yesterday and last night)

Hmmm....thats strange...sounds like you might have a blockage or air pocket somewhere?

You have air in your coolant system. There is a correct way to bleed the FTO and refill the coolant.

When thge coolant gets hot the air expands out.

If your radiator cap is missing bits then thats the problem. It's happened to a few guys in the UK.

Yep, Replaced it today. Had the problem again this afternoon though.

[EDIT] - Ignore below, not the problem - see next post[/EDIT]

Think I may have found out what it is. The coolant overflow cap was rotated 90 degrees Counter clockwise. This made the end of the overflow pipe sit against the body join on the firewall instead of pointing down through the gap between the bottle and the side of the car. Normally, I would imagine that the pipe would allow air in, but because of where it was sitting, it didnt. When the car cooled, the air contracted, but couldnt suck any more in, thus it created a vacuum in the pipe.



But then, maybe thats all BS and its something else.

Yep, was BS.

Definitely found the problem this time, and I think its definitely worth everyone checking this one. The pipe in the overflow bottle was blocked (SOLID). Couldnt suck anything through the pipe. This is a really bad thing as it will cause the car to overheat (QUICKLY). As the radiator cant suck water from the overflow bottle, it causes a vacuum in the pipe between the radiator and the filler cap. This will stop (or severly curtail) the flow of water through the engine. Additionally, it will put a lot of load on the water pump.

Only takes a moment to check. If it can happen to me, it can happen to you.....