Hey guys, it's me again. First of all, thank you all very much for helping me out for the past few months. It wouldn't have been possible to me to bring back my '74 to the road without this forum and it's members.
Anyways, my Valiant is on the road and it looks like another problem appeared. This now may sound weird, I know, but I am pretty new to old cars and common problems and finding a solution to them.
When I go for a drive, let's say to work and back home (around 30 miles) with it, it starts to smell after warm coolant. The smell comes from the engine (obviously), but when I'm getting closer to it, it seems like it's coming from the all mighty head gasket. It was quite bad the first time, but I risked it and took her out of the garage and it isn't quite bad since. The temperature's good and there's no white smoke coming from the exhaust.
What I have found out is the clamp on the coolant hose on the bottom of the radiator was loose, so I tightened it, but the car still is consuming or loosing coolant (about a quarter of a liter on a one hour jurney that's missing in the overflow tank). How likely is it to be the head gasket and what "risks" do I have to face if it is the gasket when I have to replace it (like valves, adjusting them, other parts)? Are there any other "common" parts on a /6 to tend to leak?
The water pump and thermostat housing are new, the radiator is revised by experts and there's new fresh coolant filled in. The engine oil and tranny oil are looking good, same as the oil filling and coolant caps. The thing is, the valve cover and head are quite oily...
Anyways, my Valiant is on the road and it looks like another problem appeared. This now may sound weird, I know, but I am pretty new to old cars and common problems and finding a solution to them.
When I go for a drive, let's say to work and back home (around 30 miles) with it, it starts to smell after warm coolant. The smell comes from the engine (obviously), but when I'm getting closer to it, it seems like it's coming from the all mighty head gasket. It was quite bad the first time, but I risked it and took her out of the garage and it isn't quite bad since. The temperature's good and there's no white smoke coming from the exhaust.
What I have found out is the clamp on the coolant hose on the bottom of the radiator was loose, so I tightened it, but the car still is consuming or loosing coolant (about a quarter of a liter on a one hour jurney that's missing in the overflow tank). How likely is it to be the head gasket and what "risks" do I have to face if it is the gasket when I have to replace it (like valves, adjusting them, other parts)? Are there any other "common" parts on a /6 to tend to leak?
The water pump and thermostat housing are new, the radiator is revised by experts and there's new fresh coolant filled in. The engine oil and tranny oil are looking good, same as the oil filling and coolant caps. The thing is, the valve cover and head are quite oily...