I'm geting to the point where I wish I'd never seen a spacecruiser. having followed the various anti-boiling tips in this excellent board ie. rad flushing, thermostatic caps and ultimately a head gasket job the thing is now dribbling coolant from a point under the carb. I don't know if this is an old or a new problem but it certainly explains the formerly inexplicable loss of fluid.
I suspect a cracked head - this is yet to be confirmed by the garage but their suspicions are the same. What am I best to do about this? I know there are various 'miracle weld' products about but these are surely just 'get you home' measures. I don't know if I'm best to try and get hold of a reasonable or recon head or try to get hold of a full s/h engine. I've actually been offered a (supposedly reasonable) 100k 2l for £400 delivered.
Any advice to keep this dammned money pit on the road would be gratefully appreciated.
David - (#1476) David Woollard-Kingston, 23 Nov 01

Before panicking too much, aren't the inlet manifold and carb water heated? - (#1477) David Miller, 23 Nov 01

right m8 before you go mad and spend a fortune check that all water pipes that come and go from the carb are all tight,not leaking.loose...and the metal pipes arent rusted..there could be a airline crack in the metal pipes.........did you cange manifold gaskets...and for a simple test fire the old girl up take off colant cap on top of engine..now slowly rev up motor watch out can become hot..then check to see if water is erupting like a volcano...should be a steady flow........not to fast on acelaration....if it is pumping water out fast then cracked head could be the case......but if motor running ok then prob gasket or rusted pipes...good look m8... - (#1480) granty32, 23 Nov 01

Thanks both of you. I definitely get the erupting volcano water effect, although the bus is in the garage at the moment and I can't re-check. One problem though is that the small garage that has carried out the work (cos they're the only ones who will touch it) are not particularly good and reading about pre-tightening sequences and the like I'm concerned that these probably aren't done. I think that Granty's test has probably confirmed the diagnosis for me but I'll wait to se what the man says but I will enquire whether the leak could be from the heated manifold joint just in case he hasn't looked at this possibility.
Cheers,
david - (#1484) David Woollard-Kingston, 23 Nov 01