Dark days are coming

So as those who try to follow my saga will know in the last 3 or so years I have been having issues related to the cooling system of Dreadnaught starting with a cracked radiator getting replaced and then a while after that an almost over heat needing a rescue on a wagon and resulting in the entire system being replaced with the exception of the heater matrix. Then a year later it having another warm up resulting in a change of coolant type and associated flushing. On Friday night we have had another heat up less than 3 months later. It seems to have displaced coolant and because of the very minor amount of the cleaning product that has remained despite several clean water flushing cycles it has created more micro bubbles and the occasional larger bubble when being topped off/bled. Then when on a short test run it has added an inch to the expansion bottle but when cool has not drawn it back even though the pipe is clear of the bottom of the expansion bottle. It has then taken an additional 400 ml to top off the radiator. This doesn't seem to have gone anywhere, oil level is constant and uncontaminated, on idle it's not belching water out of the top of the radiator and there are no clouds of white vapour out of the exhaust. Unfortunately I don't have a water co2 detector so can't be sure if the head and gasket are intact. So unless there's been a major air lock and it's just coming right I am kinda thinking it is the head. I'm going to have a professional look at it today and offer opinion but that is being forced on me from above because suddenly I have gone from all knowing engineer who is able to fix anything on a shoestring budget to a moron with the mechanical ability of a slug (gotta love parents who expect miracles for free but then will pay through the nose for a professional to tell them what is abundantly obvious. Sorry bit of a raw nerve. )

I look forward to hearing the outcome. Professional, cylinder head - sounds expensive. I'd be the idiot bypassing the heater ( for no good reason) just to eliminate it from my enquiries.
Chris

Lambert don't give up on the airlock theory yet - everywhere on the forum seemed to suggest there was no issues with bleeding air out, but I found that not to be the case - at least not with mine - this could be for a myriad of reasons, but what I did was an attempt to 'burp' the system by parking it nose uphill on a moderately steep incline on hardstanding, handbrake applied hard, chock the rear wheels VERY well, and jack the front of the car as high as I could get it.
I removed the radiator cap, and using a piece of flexible tube/hose (clear preferably - so you can see bubbles coming out) and about 6" long, and wide enough so it simply wedged (and more or less self-sealed itself) into the neck of the radiator filler, and a funnel that was a good fit pushed into the top of that tube, I filled it with a 50/50 mix of coolant and ran the engine.

After a good while of running and getting up to normal temp, I did get a significant amount of air out of the system.
Being careful to avoid the moving parts I also gave the top hose a few sharp 'squishes' to agitate any other air trapped in the system.

Its a tad long-winded but worth a try perhaps?

Outlook is poor. It's lifting a good half an expansion bottle of water out of the system in only about 25 minutes of stop start use as in before it is truly up to full temperature. It is also not holding enough vacuum in the system to pull said displaced water back out of the expansion bottle. Also in the opinion of the professional everything else I have done serves to isolate the issue to the head or gasket. As to the value of the repair I'm also looking at getting a clutch at the same time so I could expect a 4 figure bill by the end of the month. Anyway it's booked in and I just need to keep it full of water between now and then. Deep joy.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to swap the engine
Get one from James or a 1600 from Gary

Ive got a choice of 3 spare M13 VVT complete engines your welcome to if that helps?

Engine 1 - out of the grey one, circa 45k miles and slightly stripped for the 1.6 conversion

Engine 2 - out of ulysses - circa 75k miles and complete, ready to drop in

Engine 3 - donor bought from James for bits when i did the M18 conversion. Unknown miles and stripped.