A little advice would be nice!!

I have been a regular visitor to the site, but this is my first posting, so I apologise in advance if I bore any of you.

I am the proud (but eternally frustrated) owner of a Black 87 GTA Turbo which I use as my everyday transport. I must also add that I am a complete pelican where cars are concerned, where to put the petrol, oil and water is about the limit of my mechanical knowledge. My GTA seems to suffer from just about every problem covered by the other threads on this site, dodgy electrics, leaking fuel hoses and cooling problems. It is the cooling problems which are causing greatest concern at this time and was wondering if anyone could give a bit of diagnostic advice.

From cold the engine starts no problem, but for the first couple of miles the engine is not very responsive and runs lumpy with some black smoke from the exhaust, once the temp is up everything settles down and it goes like the train that I love, whilst moving the temp never rises above 90 but as soon as I hit traffic the guage heads skywards and billows of white smoke belch from the exhaust. If I have an unimpeded journey, coolant levels remain pretty constant but otherwise I need to add about 2 liters of fluid, I cannot see any obvious leaks in hoses so where is all this fluid going??? If anyone can point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated.

On an unrelated issue, going back about 12 years, I used to own a Silver GTA Turbo D66 NGH. Has anyone seen it, or does anyone own it, it would be nice to know if it was still out there doing it's stuff.

White smoke from the exhaust is usually steam and the loss of fluid means its probably starting to blow a head gasket. Does your radiator fan cut in? When you get to 90 or thereabouts it should come in and its quite noisy...you'd know if it was. The fact that the car stays cool on the move means that your radiator is ok.
To me it sounds like the beginnings of head gasket failure.

Burnt glycol type coolant makes a white steamy smoke that disappears quickly, and has a sweet type of smell. Yes, it does sound like a blown head gasket or possibly head corrosion. It really needs to be sorted now, but will be reasonably costly if you can't do it yourself.

Does sound like head gasket,unscrew the expansion tank cap when its running ( not to hot tho ) If the gaskets failing you will smell exhaust gases in the water system

Is it not possible to pressure test the cooling system, then you'll know if it is a head gasket problem or not?
Where are you based Jamie?

The best pressure test you can do is to run the thing up to temp and look,the waters going somewhere ,so if it ain't on the floor .............

Thanks for all the replies, I seem to get the impression that the general consensus is that it is head gasket failure, so I will certainly get it looked at. I can't say that I have noticed the fan cutting in either so I suppose I better look into that aswell. (Payday soon).

I am based down on the South Coast, 10 miles outside Worthing. Anyone know any decent mechanic down this area. Spoke to my local Renault dealer and can you beleive it, they didn't even know what a GTA was???

Hi Jamie

If this is your car: http://www.renaultalpine.co.uk/PHPBB/ph ... highlight=

Then, yes you need the headgasket(s) replacing

Welcome to the joys of GTA ownership!!

Regards
Stephen (using Tony Law's ID!!)

Sounds like similar symtoms to what my GTA was suffering before I had my head gaskets done a few months ago. It was billowing white 'smoke'I so I had several compression tests and tests for exhaust gases in the coolant done, non of which were conclusive. What finally convinced me was, if I put my hand over the exhaust while it was billowing the white smoke my hand had a slight sticky residue and it smelt sweet. The white 'smoke' was actually steam and the smell was antifreeze! Worth doing this check on yours to see if it helps to clarify if it is your head gaskets leaking.

My geography's terrible but the only Alpine specialists I know down south are Alpine Renault Racing in London and Roadspeed in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

I had a local garage do mine, but a specailist would have been better!

Tony,

Yes that is the one, I was the self same bidder on e-bay who was the lucky (or unlucky) highest bidder. I didn't pay as much as shown as when I went to view the car there was quite a bit not working which the dealer had failed to note. I did notice the discoloration around the header tank but when removed the cap the seal was totally shot. One new cap later, problem solved and no trouble, UNTIL NOW

I bet you wish you'd read that thread! Still it was cheap for a turbo...I just hope my prediction at the end of the thread isnt right.
If its just head gaskets any competent garage will beable to do them.....at the end of the day its a fairly common engine and you shouldnt need any specialist tools or parts. Theres an old thread when Juzz had his done that should be of assistance.

http://www.renaultalpine.co.uk/PHPBB/ph ... oky+engine

What I couldnt remember was wether it was an engine out job for the head gaskets? If it is then you will need to check out how to jack the car up to remove the engine and sub frame (only 2 normal jacking points make it less simple than a normal car).......if not then any competent garage will be able to do the job.

From what I can remember from previous threads (I'm good at the theory, but shit at the practical ), the head gaskets can be replaced with the engine in situ, but timing the engine back up is apparently not very easy! Better to take it out and be done with it! Having said that, I also remember being told that the engine can come up and out, without having to be dropped out with the subframe etc.

Can be done in situ if you enjoy hours of backache from leaning over an engine bay, though as Liam says, timing it up is difficult and frustrating..