Coolant by-pass blocked.

[Carolyn]

The engine in the supercharger car was really struggling to open the thermostat, which is a wierd one!

It had a new water pump and a new thermostat, but lousy circulation.  Having ruled out blockages anywhere else in the cooling system, it had to be a problem internal to the engine.

I knew that a previous owner had put the dreaded pink sealant in the cooling system, 'cos I could see traces of it when I rebuilt the engine.

Foolish me did not check to see if the by-pass in the head was clear.  It wasn't.  Pink mush sitting in the bend.

A blocked by-pass stops warm coolant getting to the back of the thermostat....

That was engine out, top -end strip-down to spend two minutes getting the crud out.  All good fun.

So a note to others, when going through the head, make sure the by-pass isn't blocked!

Double Doh!!!

[K T M Rider]

  Surely must be some kind of record on here for hours spent preparing for a job and finishing off after a job Vs. actually doing it !

[shnazzle]

Argh! That's a crazy amount of work for something so simple

[Carolyn]

Hey, it keeps me out of trouble.

Engine swap is now done, and the offending engine is going back together. 

And I got to learn a valuable lesson.

The more you do it, the easier it gets.