I've had my Tiger for 6 months and 700 miles so far and have watched the
list talk about Tiger's puking coolant. Have felt real secure in the
observation that so far I haven't seen the temp gauge go north of 180 so
far through a wide range of driving conditions. Last Monday morning the
guage hit 205 after a 20 minute freeway run at 70 mph (outside air temp
was a cool 50 degrees - fog in the bay area), but cooled down to 170
after getting off of the freeway and driving through town. Tuesday
night it did the same thing when I brought the car home. Odd.
This afternoon I checked the coolant tank and it was low so I added
water to the half way mark. Even checked it with a popcicle stick.
Took the car up the freeway 10 miles and back at 70 mph, took it awhile
but it did go up to 200 on the gauge. As I was pulling into the garage
at home, the car let out a howl and dumped most of the coolant within
about a minute. It was hard to determine exactly where it was coming
from, the garage was dark, and I wasn't real thrilled about sticking my
head down in all that steam and hissing. It was definitely coming from
somewhere below or near the water pump and stopped once the level got
down to wherever it was leaking from. I was late and had to run to
dinner with my wife so left the car to cool down.
Just got home, checked things over with the flashlight and couldn't see
anything obvious. Added some water, took about 3/4 gallon. Fired it up
and went back up the freeway. Got it back to the house and shut down
before it hit 200, but it was headed there. Everything was nice and dry
- no obvious leaks.
So, what's going on. 13 lb radiator cap on the coolant tank. Stock
260. I figure either the thermostat is not opening or the water pump is
shot. I can easily check the thermostat tomorrow morning. Is there an
easy way to check out the water pump short of pulling it?
Any other suggestions? Have not yet calibrated the gauge so not sure
how accurate it is. But, if it is reasonably accurate, this shouldn't
happen at 205 - 210 should it.
Thanks for the help.
Dave
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