Cooling System

["David Kirk" <david@domain.elided>]

Dear List,

I recently had a lucky experience with a cooling system failure. As I was
driving along the motorway, about 70-80 ish, I decided to make a mobile
phone call. I thought I would be safety minded so I pulled into the carpark
of a service station and switched off the engine. I started my phone call
and 3-4 minutes into it I noticed steam rising from the bonnet. A quick look
under the car revealed lots of water flooding out. (Lucky I had pulled up!)

When examined from the top of the engine it was obvious that that the left
hand inlet manifold to cylinder head gasket had gone. The recovery crew
couldn't fix it on site and so I went home with an excellent MPG performance
for the trip.

Being a biggish job, known to be a bit difficult (as discovered by following
this list) I decided to let the garage do it. They did, and all is well
(ish)

The engine runs fine. The temperature on the guage is as normal as ever, no
water is being used or dissapearing. but .......
It does not seem to be developing any pressure in the system. After a run up
to temperature, a squeeze on the top hose shows no sign of pressure inside,
when the cap is removed from the expansion bottle there is no hiss. I am
sure that I used to develop quite a pressure before. I recently changed the
hoses because I was worried about the ballooning that was evident when the
engine was hot.

Does anyone have any ideas ?

Regards
David Kirk