3SG(T)E folk.. have you encountered this?

[RomanV]

Depends if BHG = Bearings Have Gone

[Leon]

Is the water in your radiator coolant?

If so, if the water in your spark plug hole is straight water, then it's definitely not from your radiator.

.... please tell me that you're running coolant ...

[Grrrrrrr!]

Nope, not running coolant as I was dropping it every other day while taking bits off sorting out the problems and trying to catch it was a pita with the front bar. Will have coolant in by the end of the weekend once I take the downpipe off for some panel beating. (which involves taking the oil cooler off)

[gt4dude]

oil and water contamination isn't what happens on a 3sgte, the galleries are just so far apart... its water/combustion contamination that you get

i managed around 30 - 40 thousand kms between first sign of cooling system issue and overheating



i got a crack in my head repaired around that area, perhaps if the crack were to have extended any further, i would have ended up with a symptom that you show in the picture

[jbod]

Maybe put coolant in it and if you have coolant in the places photographed after you will have the answer. From the 3sgtes i have seen they will happily run with cracked heads, you did say it makes bubbling sounds when hot? The cooling system should be air free.The 3s engines i have seen with cracked heads or head gaskets have always bubbled, the healthy ones haven't.

Maybe put coolant in and see if it is just rain water getting in. The rain wont be green

[Grrrrrrr!]

No water in spark plug wells since, and no water useage as far as I can tell, so probably no cracked head.

Also, bubbling in turbo will happen even when there is no air in the system, its water boiling in the turbo. Just means the turbo is still pretty hot.

[jbod]

If theres no water since looks like you know the answer (:. Id get the water shield and re install it

[Grrrrrrr!]

Wont both with the water shield, the water to air intercooler will do the same job

[gt4dude]

If im honest, it's not often that I hear of bhg 3S's.

if i were to get another 3S, the first mistake I made 5 years ago is not knowing anything about engines, especially turbo engines, and taking the sellers word for it being looked after and maintained.

I would thoroughly flush cooling system, water lines and clear out turbo oil lines. I would immediately replace yellow discoloured radiator, radiator hoses and thermostat as a matter of service proceedure.

Another thing I learnt along the way is that you should replace the radiator cap ONLY with a genuine item, the generic ones their seals warp and get stuck, the system cant breathe.

I was already on a path to destruction as I learnt things too late, gunked up cooling system, faulty components, etc. Still the strong 3S managed a hell of alot of driving at first with monthly coolant topups, then weekly, then the change to daily caught me completely off guard and thats when I gave it its first major overheating, and it was all downhill from there