Vacum Pipe?

[roy666]

Hi Guys - recently found my coolant to be contaminated with soemthing very mucky, looks like a grease (ish), so just changing the coolant to see if it returns (if it does then I'll start to get worried). However, the immediate problem is this pipe hanging loose. Anyone know what this pipe is? I think it may be a vacum feed off the plenum for the heater, but i can't see what it attaches to. Any advice much appreciated. Cheers Mike

[roy666]

Rats - the JPEG pic didn't come through.. sorry , its not working for me. its a small rubber pip coming from the back side of the plenum.

[ElanBRG]

Rats - the JPEG pic didn't come through.. sorry , its not working for me. its a small rubber pip coming from the back side of the plenum.

Pics have to be 1024x768 resolution or smaller, and pretty small in file size, which is probably your issue. I use some kind of resizer program in Windows to make them smaller. This forum needs an upgrade. That picture size is from the 90’s, like the Elan.

Do you have a pic of the greasy coolant. I can only think of 2 things to cause that outside of a stupid human trick (e.g. a Jiffy Lube “mechanic” adding gearbox fluid to the cooling system): Head gasket leak between oil and water jackets, or a rubber hose in the cooling system that is so deteriorated on the inside that it’s turning in goo and about to burst and warp your heads.

[roy666]

Thanks for the advice, I'vr cleaned up the system so no pics of he gunk... but I have a bad feeling it will come back.. and as you say..its HGF..I bet!

[Rambo]

Roy - have you, or your garage, done a sniffer test yet ?

[roy666]

Not yet... it has a new head gasket last year.. so I've a feeling it wasn't v well done. I'll try and get one in this week.... fingers crossed.

[Rambo]

For the price and peace of mind it would be worth getting this tested. You can get a kit to do this yourself but it might be better to get it done professionally. I don't really know the geography of your area but it might be worth considering a day trip to see Gerald at GST, Newmarket. Isn't he just a short blast down the M1 ?

Just a thought

[ElanBRG]

Roy - have you, or your garage, done a sniffer test yet ?

Sniffer test is a good idea to do, but won’t be conclusive. You can still have oil mixing with coolant in the head even if the combustion chambers are still well sealed by the head gasket.

[roy666]

Yeah - I use GST as my regualr service and "go to" guru... but for this I'll pop in to Kelvedon.. just up the road.. and I hear they have started servicing now... since the big move.

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Rats - the JPEG pic didn't come through.. sorry , its not working for me. its a small rubber pip coming from the back side of the plenum.

Click on this link to see his picture: www.lotusm100.com/Vac-Pipe.jpg

[RonR]

That vacuum pipe looks just about long enough to reach a dump valve, was there one fitted previously?

[roy666]

No - no dump valve fitted. When I cover the end of the pipe with my finger the engine stutters and dies. It looks like it was connected to something becuse of the crimp mark on the end. What's to be done.. just tape it up out of the way and leave it!!??

[ElanBRG]

No - no dump valve fitted. When I cover the end of the pipe with my finger the engine stutters and dies. It looks like it was connected to something becuse of the crimp mark on the end. What's to be done.. just tape it up out of the way and leave it!!??

Your car is a turbo, right?

That means the plenum is often under pressure, not vacuum, so I doubt that would be a vacuum hose. And it can't be good to be bleeding off boost pressure through an open hose, or sucking in unfiltered air when off boost.

You'll definitely want to fix it properly.

[GeoffSmith]

… However, the immediate problem is this pipe hanging loose. Anyone know what this pipe is? I think it may be a vacum feed off the plenum for the heater, but i can't see what it attaches to. Any advice much appreciated. Cheers Mike

That's what it looks like to me, although the elbow (that perishes) which normally attaches to the plenum appears to have been replaced with some larger bore pipe. It should disappear off to the reservoir behind the N/S wheelarch liner.

I would suggest checking whether your heater works at all positions and to try starting the engine with the pipe blanked off (rather than blocking it when the engine is running).

https://www.deroure.com/diagrams.asp?TB ... 0&ST=&SC=0