Overheating

[Mike Wattam <101714.1343@domain.elided>]

Peter

The original ROOT reason why Stags overheated was not incorrect Antifreeze.
 All Stags were filled with a special Bluecol antifreeze for alloy engines
on production, and this should not have been emptied out for 2-3 years
after production.  The dealers were told exactly what to use, but as you
surmise they probably did not all do what they were advised!

The real culprit was the preparation of the cylinder blocks prior to
fitting on prodcution engines.  Most cylinder blocks were not thoroughly
cleaned out of casting sand (by West Yorkshire Foundries, a subsidiary of
British Leyland at the time).  The result was that the sand soon collected
in the bottom of the blocks and caused overheating because there was no
coolant in the bottom of the block to keep the piston skirts cool. Thus
piston scuffing which in itself caused more overheating with the inevitable
results.

You are right, when I discovered this (my Stag was still in warranty at the
time) I cleaned out my block VERY carefully, I certainly wasn't going to
have a dealer messing about with my car!

Contrary to popular belief, when Stags were new they did not generally
overheat so much, the worst problems by far were timing chain failures due
to sheared setscrews (poor quality steel) in the end of the camshafts, and
main/big end bearing failures due to lack of oil changes.

These problems wee all made worse by the fact that nearly all Stags were
'fleet' or 'company' cars and hacked to death by their users, not careful
and considerate owners like us lot!

Mike