i was replacing my thermostat, and when i opened the housing, this is what i found! (pic)
there was no thermostat at all!!!!!!! just the rings :o

my biggest concern is, if it was there in the first place did it get into the engine, since the coolant holes are pretty big! or do you think it's designed to melt/vaporize when the engine gets overheated!
i had overheated the engine once, and there was a thick trail of smoke behind me, but i stopped within 5 mins n added in more engine oil, n fixed the leaking coolant hoses.


my second blunder is that, after fixing the rotor cap, i mis-fixed the 1st and 2nd spark wires in the rotor! 3rd, 4th & 5th were in the right place, but i interchanged the 1st n 2nd by mistake! without knowing this i ran the engine, since i had drained the coolant and put in new one. i ran the engine for a few mins, but i realized smething wasn't right and there was unusal shaking of the engine. i switched it off and rechecked everything to realize my mistake!!!
how much damage would this blunder of mine would've done to my engine?! :(

i started the car today, and underneath the engine is a major coolant leak, i went under the car, but still can't find the source of the coolant leak. it keeps dripping, and it's from the right side of the engine underneath. it's under the 1st n 2nd spark plug section, i fear there is sme kind of damage to the engine/seals because of the blunder i did yesterday! :(

i checked the radiator nipple, even though the leak wasn't from there, and i tried to get a good look at the engine block coolant drain nipple, but i couldn't figure out much.

i'm hoping it's because of the engine block nipple not being tight enough, the coolant is leaking. but that doesn't seem to be the case as the nipple is behind the engine block and the leak seems to be coming from the front of the engine block

also, from the coolant reservoir, i see faint puffs of smoke. is that bec of the hot coolant?

after hours of guessing, and pouring through repair manuals n software, i'm sure the ghost is the water pump, since the coolant is leaking only when the engine is running and not when it's switched off.

hope i'm not surprised by another problem while fixing this! lol!

Are you sure a mechanic didn't just remove the thermostat?

They sometimes do that when it's old and rusty since there is a chance that it might get stuck and your engine will overheat.

could be a possibility!

but if a mechanic had removed the thermostat, then he'd have removed the metal part too, if you look closely at the pic you see the rubber n the ring which is actually part of the thermostat itself.

im hoping it's ur suggestion, cause then it's a BIG relief, else it will be my idea that the thermostat melted and/or went into the engine!

i have no history about this car, just bought it beginning of the year. the previous owner lied all the way about the condition of the car!

i will be taking it to the mechanic today, and hopefully know the problem with the leaking coolant!

Fortunately, the effects of not having a thermostat at all is probably more towards having a defective thermostat, with the valves sticking open! As such, no overheating of the engine could have happened....




The thermostat is made of mostly metal components and as such, couldn't have gotten 'sucked' into the cooler lines. And it was designed to OPEN, at certain degrees (either 188F or 194F OR 82C or 90C). Melting is not one of its design-features.

The thing with the coolant hoses is that, based on my experience, if one of the coolant hoses starts to leak, it would be good practice to change the rest of the hoses as well. Sure you can take your time about it - but as I learnt the hard way, when ONE of the hoses started to deteriorate and leaked, the rest gave way, in orderly fashion. STEADILY and SURELY.

For instance, the first to go was my heater-core bypass hose (in MY kind of HOT weather, WHO needs a heater-core? What more heated-seats?)... Changed that, and then the Bottom (big) radiator hose, near the gearbox. Changed that, then the top hose, near the power-steering tank. And THEN, guess what? The Radiator itself, failed. ALL in order. Mind you, it took a span of about 6 months for all to fail, and during that time, I was watching my coolant like a eagle's eye. All the way, to make sure there are no more funny stuff. But i guess the monitoring I did was probably not enough (or need to be enhanced further) so that I could be able to lengthen its lifespan further. :lol:

Thus far, ALL is well.
(It's basically a NEW cooling system, anyway...)
:P

So, how does it run, now?
If it runs OK, then consider yourself lucky.

Could you please help me out here.

When you say 'RIGHT-SIDE', is it at the ECU / Timing belt cover area or the other side where the CMP/air box/battery is?

have you bought a new thermostat and placed it in already?

That would be my bet, too. It's probably just the seals of the water-pump. But try to get help on this, as you'd need to remove the timing belt and all.

At the same time, keep looking for leaks. The ghost may still be there...
:gitara:

That is the sealing ring. It would come together with a new set of purchased thermostat.

Keep us updated, i'd like to know what your mechanic finds.

it's from the timing belt cover side.

i was installing a new thermostat when i opened up i saw no previous thermostat in it! anyways, i went ahead n installed the new one which opens at 90c.

i need to change the water pump, thanks to FCP which is 30% cheaper than my local auto stores, and i will be changing the timing belt too. but i'm gonna try n do this on my own, since the local volvo mechanic is charging me $200 for the pump installation alone!
definately not in a poor engg student's budget!

with a VADIS program in my arsenal, i have the step by step instructions, more detailed than haynes manual. imagine 4.7 GBs of repair data! i probably can fix it better than any general mechanic, who told me he needs to remove the engine to replace the water pump, which would cost me 10 hours of labor x $60/hr = $600!


it's worth 2 hours of labor if u follow the haynes manual or VADIS, and you really don't have to remove the engine!


but i will have to take it to a mechanic, to fix the front alignment, the control arm bushes are gone, because of which my 4 month old tires are worn out on the edges.

besides the thermostat, i successfully replaced the front brake pads and brake rotors, distributor cap & rotor!

need to change front brake hoses & fuel filter (not able to because of stubborn nuts n bolts), and then the water pump n timing belt.
because of the leaky water pump, the "ghost" drinks abt a can of coolant everyday! yikes!

my check engine light was on since smetime, so i will need a new CMP sensor n RPM sensor.

with all these troubles i'm getting 260-300 miles to a tank! :o

will be fixing the water pump this weekend!

I have VADIS too. Where are the instructions on changing the water pump?