"Hey, guess what, I don't entirely agree with Mike."
you know something I thought you would say that!

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Mike
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mosesthemonk wrote:whether running on petrol OR gas I still get a bit of white 'steam' out the exhaust.
If there was a leak into the combustion chambers then the pressure would soon dissipate when the engine is switched off, but from my prior comment its more likely to be the H2O byproduct of the combustion process.this is worst when the engine has sat for some time unused, and then first startup, so I presumed this could be due to residual pressure in the coolant system forcing coolant into the cylinders.
You already found out that all the cylinders were reasonable when cold and did not vary much, one to another. You can relax in the thought that you are unlikely to have a breached head gasket.
My next step will be to do a hot compression test, as I have been told elsewhere that a cold one is useless
coolant going around an engine is bound to pong a bit to which I would not attach too much significance, particularly as the amount of Smell is (as is Beauty) in the eye or nose of the beholder.the smell in the header tank is not strong - should I watch the header tank for bubbles with the car running?
Read thisHow do make absolutely sure I have bled the system of ALL bubbles?
If you have a good reason, or an insatiable desire, to remove the heads then do it. If AFTER you have suffered a couple or three broken head bolts, then you may wish for a hiding place, where none exists.If these things do not show faults is it still worth popping the heads off and having a look for what I find or should I run away and hide?
this makes sense to me I can try this also butYou could try swopping the lambda sensors over for a few days and see if there is any difference to the plug colours
I am not sure I understand this - won't this cause backfiring if the car will even run, aren't the injectors timed? I'm sorry I don't know much about this sort of thing!How about swapping the injector leads from left to right
Hopefully then you have expelled all the trapped air.mosesthemonk wrote: I ran the car for a few minutes, with the expansion tank (coolant reservoir) cap and the top radiator cap off. I topped up the system through the reservoir, and let the coolant drip slowly out of the radiator.
If you were doing this with the pressure cap removed, you have to remember that the coolant would be boiling at or around 100 deg C at the hottest parts of the engine and the steam bubbles generated thereabouts would escape constantly.The radiator bubbled at the rate of one bubble (about the diameter of a 20p coin) every 2-3 seconds for 20 minutes without any sign of stopping. It was constant, and wasn't faster at first as I'd expect if it were a problem with airlocks in the system.
That smell is because half of your cylinders are running too rich as evidenced by the 4 sooty plugs on one bank.However, with the advice and help of a friend I also now notice that my cloud from the exhaust does smell a bit rich.
In priority order, fix the overfuelling on the faulty bank and only when that is done and corrected should you move to the head gasket issue. And that depends upon the bubble situation when the pressure cap is in place and working correctly as mentioned above.My gut feeling is that the head gasket is damaged, but that there may also be a problem with the injector system.
Hello Moses, Presumably, its function to be replaced or substituted by electric cooling fan(s)? It can seem an attractive proposition but it may upset the stability of your cooling system, so before you do, can I persuade you to read the Cooling Treaty in PDF format found Here:mosesthemonk wrote:removing ----- probably the viscous fan too.