overheating problems

Ive had some some problems with overheating. It was a rotten water hose problem, which has been replaced. now it's split one of the copper pipes that goes from the radiator round the R/H/S of the block.
now im wondering if its possible to replace this and can anyone think of a reason why im getting so much pressure (enough to split the copper pipe)?

any help would be much appreciated, as im no expert

dooby

I'm no expert either but excess pressure in your cooling system can means the head gasket's gone.

An easy way to tell if you might have a suspect head gasket is that you are having to top up the coolant regularly but there's no external leaks ( cos' the coolant is leaking past the gasket into the cylinders)  

ALternatively, when you fix you pipe, fill your cooling system up with water only and then rev the car up with the expansion tank cap off, if it bubbles similar to a kettle boiling and starts spitting water out like a geyser then it's most likely to be the HG.

However in older cars such as ours, it may be a blocked radiator, take the radiator out and flush out all the gunk that sits in the cores to clear any possible blockages as these would also cause over-pressurising.

thanks toad, sounds sensible.
do you know how easy it is to replace the copper pipe?

Its also worth checking that the small pipe running from the expansion tank back into the rad is not blocked atthe radiator end. Easiest way to check is to see if you are getting a flow of water into the expansion tank from the pipe.

expansion tank? is that just the white water holding thing?
if so, then yes then there is water returning to that.
its one of the pipes coming from the rad that has split.

Yes that's the expansion tank.

Not sure how easy/hard it is to fit that new metal pipe, I just can't picture exactly where it is in my head either, would have to have a look on my car when I get home later and get back to you.