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QUESTIONS are:

anyone ever have EA82 do this
anyone know for sure EA82 had and always had stainless welch plugs

Got all my swearing out of the way for a while......

After renewing:
a] water pump to heater hose metal pipe
b] water pump to radiator metal pipe
c] all spider inlet gaskets - one side loose and was bleeding towards inlets
d] a no- pressure-holding radiator cap

and bypassing the throttle body anti ice hoses, I finally got to pour water into my EA82T, let it settle and bubble up air, and again, and again and again!!

Getting a bit suss as I left water in my radiator fill funnel to work its way into nooks and crannys to avoid any air locks, I pull oil dip stick out to find sump has a far greater volume of oil level that I put in about 15 mins use time ago.

I did not even add pressure to radiator just atmo. The PO mechanic likely added his pressure tester to the radiator , arriving at blown HG diagnosis. Given that the radiator cap was not pressurising the system for a while, some presure from a tester at 15 psi likely helped test the rusted out pipes and leaking gasjets I have found and replaced. Even though a car may be going well before a radiator presure test does not mean it will be driveable after the test.

Not even gonna try and run this baby with water in sump - at least at the moment it is separate, no need to add pressure and turn it into buttermilk.

"talking" to Neville nncoolg and after some thinking went on, the suggestion of welch plugs in the head was made, allowing a bucket load of my tank water to fill the sump. I undid sump lug armed with two drain dishes in case and got a few litres shall we say, of crystal clear tank water, and as that came to an end came out with a top deck of engine oil.

Good way to check before I add more oil to the sump is pull rocker covers off and fill radiator to see if Niagara starts up either side


Bought this car as a goer with diagnosis of blown HG's. My anal aproach to a problem like this is to replace the easier, simpler , cheaper stuff first and test as I go, rather than jump into it. My compression test came up 160 psi +/-5, and cylinder leakge test came up pretty good for an engine its age and definitely did not leak like this into water jacket.

Reckon due to corrosion levels of stuff found so far it is HG or maybe Nevilles easier suggestion of welch plug. Engine out either way.

Head gaskets commonly go between cylinder to cylinder, cylinder to water, cylinder and oil and I guess this time it could well be water to sump - evading the testing I have done so far.

I had an EA81 do it

I thought it was headgaskets as well but it wasn't until I took a rocker cover off and there was steam coming from one of the stainless plugs that I knew it wasn't a head gasket.

I got the heads machined and pressure tested and the welch plugs were replaced with pretty brass ones and I never had a problem with those heads again.

TOONGA

Neville says too right EA82's rust out their plugs. A simple magnet tells that these welch plugs are either mild steel or stainless with som attraction for the magnet

and here is a pic of LHS head, front welch plug (answers to Llewellyn ) with a puddle of tank water he contributed to the sump. This is water leak number five or six found so far, first internal one. Heads are coming off to fit new genuine head gaskets. fter 24 years and 170,000km I think it may be wise. New valve stem seals and a known quieter set of lifters to go in also - from another Vortex turbo engine.

You will see in bottom right corner of pic under the head bolt a buttermilk look. The other head looked nice and clean internally however this side looked like cam was trying to develop crusty surface on its roughcast areas.



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If it were me I'd try to remove the offending welsh plug and make sure the bore it sits in isn't cracked . Astron blocks use to do that .
Anyway if you can change it and make it seal it could be a way of eliminating other water leaks that may exist . EA82s being the sieve that they are you want to identify them all otherwise a freshen up rebuild can still end up leaking .

I remember reading and repeating here that the old hands at USMB always removed and renewed ALL the consumables on an unknown engine .
I did just about everything to my early RX Turbos original engine bar remove it . I knew it was tired and getting fumy plus burning some oil . To avoid issues I found out about an 87 XT4 that was being wrecked and lept on its engine and gearbox . As it turned out it had been freshened up earlier in its life but I wanted to improve the heads coat the pistons and use late NA EFI camshafts .

Anyway if you can stop the water leaks you can at least make a decent assessment of the engine if it will run . If its the last link in the chain may as well budget for a new water pump as well .

A .

Water pump - worth a mention - worth a look , but not new just yet, I have some good used ones to either use or dispose of. One still has a cereal packet sourced gasket.

This baby is gettng that freshen up, head gaskets and up. Got some known to be quiet HVLAs from another engine too

ahem!


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