Strange Gushing Sound

[Brigus]

Happy New Year all,

 

For a while I have had a strange 'gushing' sound (like running water) coming from the passenger side, but only when revs increase (and not every time). I mentioned it at my last service and the mechanic had no idea what it was about (he suggested it might be air in the manifold?!?).

 

A while ago the hose to my fuel rail came loose and I had to secure it with a cable tie - BUT the sound had already been there and has been the same since. So, my questions are, has anyone else experienced this sound, is it a problem, and what is it about?

 

Cheers,

[Brigus]

I should add that there were no fault codes either.

 

Any comments welcome

[paul.h]

Maybe there is some air in the heater matrix that needs bleeding out of the coolant. I think there is a bleed point on one of the hoses. Have a look in the Haynes manual for details. Also check the coolant level is ok.

[Brigus]

Maybe there is some air in the heater matrix that needs bleeding out of the coolant. I think there is a bleed point on one of the hoses. Have a look in the Haynes manual for details. Also check the coolant level is ok.

 

Thanks for the reply Paul - that would make sense as I had the coolant renewed back in June. I'll have a look when the weather improves a bit.

 

Cheers

[Brigus]

Thanks for the reply Paul - that would make sense as I had the coolant renewed back in June. I'll have a look when the weather improves a bit.

 

Cheers

 

Hello,

 

An update on my predicament... well I had a look at the coolant situation a few weeks ago and could not find any problem (although I'm no expert). Anyway, the symptoms got worse (the gushing sound was joined by rough idle at start up, and then yesterday... more exhaust smoke than normal - white exhaust smoke). I took it to a garage straight away who not surprisingly diagnosed head gasket failure. I've decided to have it repaired as I like the car and luckily I caught the gasket failure in time, before any damage was done to the engine.

 

Two questions -

 

The mechanic tells me they can't find any underlying issue that might have caused the head gasket to go. Is there anything that might be hard to spot (or any questions I should ask) or could it simply be that the previous owner was just too rough with the car. I've had my C3 for 18 months, and I've only put on 6,000 of the 68,000 miles.

 

Secondly, are there any other jobs/ components that should be taken care of while this job is done?

 

Thanks,

[Johndouglas]

 

are there any other jobs/ components that should be taken care of while this job is done?

 

If I were taking the head off I'd use a new timing belt.

[paul.h]

To the timimg belt I would also add the belt pulleys and tensioner and water pump since if petrol the mileage is 80k for belt replacement (from memory) and maybe a thermostat since these do not last forever. The white smoke would have been coolant leaking into a cylinder with probably unburnt fuel. Probably also worthwhile having an oil/filter change in case coolant got into the oil.

[Brigus]

Thanks John and Paul for the advice.

 

That helped me prepare my mental list of related jobs/ questions for when the garage called back with an estimate the next day. As it happened, their estimate also recommended timing belt, pulleys, oil & filter change, etc, which gave me confidence that they are conscientious about the work.

 

I finally picked up the car on Monday - the engine is purring now and it even seems a bit more powerful than before. It's been nice to be back driving this week - I hate taking the bus!

 

Cheers