Anyone here running a Raceline water rail?
If so, does this look normal?
I've read you should just top it off and it would find its own level, but this seems quite low. Filed it up to the top every time I went out to find out it's back to this level again.
Wouldn't I risk air entering the system this way?
Thermostat is on the original place of the engine.


Photo will enlarge if you click on it.

I have one on my Zetec, but I added a pressurised expansion tank, as I didn't like the idea of running without one.
But, what you have is correct, as Raceline basically use the water rail as the 'header', so yes, it will run at the level you have.

Wow, that's a fast response to get my stress levels down again. Thank you so much!
Guess I've waisted quite some coolant now.
I must admit I'm also not really liking the idea of running without one, but as I have a 'sissy-heater' it's getting quite stuffed under the bonnet already.

By the way, are you the only one left on this lovely forum?!!!!
I can recall it was much more lively before my nervous breakdown trying to fix my Caterham a few years back...

It seems a lot of forums have been very quiet over that past few months.
So I guess par for the course...
But, we'll still be here - so do promote us to the rest of the world

Eugene
Would you mind explaining how your system is connected up? I went this route, but found the header tank was just filling up. Do you runa thermostat, if so do you run with a hole in it? big or small?

I have the Raceline set-up and was running a heater bypass pipe (sub marine tube up to the water rail)

Tar

Phil

If you look at the image, the top hose is an overflow, to the floor (actually a catch tank, but you get the idea).
But that never get used.

The lower hose goes to the thermostat housing, and yes, I run a thermostat with a 3mm hole.

The pressurised header never fills-up.
That actually suggests a head gasket failure as you would probably be pressurising the coolant.
Do you get air in the coolant?

Thanks - so you don't use the take off from the sub-marine tube under the radiator at all?

The lower hose from the expansion goes to take-off halfway along the water rail (the old heater return point)?

I think my problem was I fitted a pipe between the heater tank off (sub-marine tube) and the water rail heater return. When I fitted my presurised header tank, I hooked this pipe up to it. I think what happened then was that when the thermostat closed I had the pump pushing coolant along the path of least resistance, which was up into the header tank.

It sounds like I need to blank off the small old heater pipe from the sub-marine tube and reinstate my tank connection to the middle of the water rail....

I have no take-off from the sub-marine tube...
With the standard Raceline configuration there is no need for at (as I understand it).
I added an 'expansion' tank just because I like running with the Raceline header always full.

With an expansion tank it is an adjunct to the cooling system, not an 'active' part of it, if that makes sense?

The lower tube on the expansion tank goes to the overflow from the thermostat housing.
(This is the small black hose in the first piccy tookaphotoof posted...)

Oh - edited to add, I obviously has a blanking cap on the thermostat housing!

Hi - hijacking this thread a bit, but the sub-marine tube take off is for running a heater - which then returns to an elbow half way along the raceline water rail. I used to run one, but have since dumped it. Because I wasn't sure if I would re-fit, I kept the plumbing, just joined the two pipes together so it's as if the heater valve is always in bypass mode.

I know what you mean though - the little take off from the thermostat housing is where it used to vent to the expansion bottle. By taking it to the new tank, you havea header which allows the coolant to expand. Rather than this expansion then getting chucked out of the system due to lack of space, it goes up into the tank. Then, when it cools down, it can flow back into the system via the same pipe...

Time to dump the heater plumbing as this isn't helping my set-up.

Tar,

Phil

No problem Phil.

By the way, I'll probably be giving the heater plumbing one more go.
Although the car hasn't giving me cooling problems after disconnecting it I can still remember how good it feels to have the heater on during winter time.
Yes I know... It's more like summertime at the moment...