View Full Version : doh car overheating! help needed please
Hi guys,
On the way to work this morning i pulled out of a t-junction and looked in the mirror to see a cloud of steam coming from the engine. The the temp went up to the red so i pulled over. I tried the heater in the car and it was only blowing cold air. After it had cooled down i did another couple of miles and the same thing happened. After about 20mins i did the last mile or so to work with the heater on full blast every now and again i could get a puff of warmer air but generally it was cold. My girlfriend drive the car over 100miles last night and when i asked her she remembered that the heater had given in the last 15mins of her trip ( didnt notice the temp or feel the need to tell me ). I opened the coolent filler cap and cant see any liquid in there which is bad! I cant spot any leaks though.
Any ideas on
A) What the problem is
B) How i can fix it and get home (i work in the middle of no where and dont want to be stranded tonight as the is no mobile signal at all )
c) Is it time for that V6 after all?
lodgeman
23-02-2006, 09:29
was fairly cold this morning-have you checked for any damaged pipes or could it be a frozen pipe(weak antifreeze)? try topping up with water and bleeding the water system (radiator , heater and gearbox bleed valves) and try that, they can be a bugger to get all the air out. failing that its a cap failure or a head gasket failure:doh: if head gasket failure try filling the car up with water and running with the pressure cap not full tightened so that it does,nt build up pressure. failing that rip the whole lot out and fit a maaahusive v6/3sgte or the lastest engine of choice the v8:hehe:
Hmmm i have a really bad feeling about this one! I should mention that this happend after about 13miles of er spirited driving down country lanes.
I wish i had all the parts/skills to do the V6 swap right now. The problem is i cant bloody weld, dont have an engine lift and cant be without a car for too long. Oh yeah and im poor lol.
Do a coolant bleed and top up as described in the bgb. If you put the 2 pipes on the taps (on the radiator and heater matrix), tape them up in the air to the bonet, make sure the heater is on hot and just fill the system up with coolant slowly untill the pipes at the front have approx the same level of coolant as the filler cap!
Give the soft pipes a squeeze to get any air out, and top up.
Fill up the expansion bottle.
See how it goes!. You could just have an air lock in the rad
Just to be a pain in the arse the car didnt come with the toolkit so i dont have these pipes. Will any clear hose do the trick? can i just fill with plain water to get me home or will that do more harm?
ok i filled with tap water ready to go home at the end of the day. It took more than 2 litres before the water reached the filler point. I started the car with the cap off and cream foam started bubbling out :0( I just kept adding water as the level went down and and ran the car for over 10 mins without any overheating probs. When i took the cap off again hot water came out but then the level went right down so i kept filling untill it stopped. I then came back inside to sulk. I think it will get me home tonight (20 min trip).
Sounds like Mr HGF has visited you.
Time for a 1.5.
Sponge Bob
23-02-2006, 15:05
yeah... sounds like HG's gone
it's been a bad day for me too, so you're not alone mate!
well it got me home last night. Depending on if i was going up hill or down hill the heating worked. After i got home i let it cool down for about 10 mins and went out to check on it. I slowly opened he filler cap and let the pressure out (and a bit of water). Nothing else happened. Then i heard a gurgaling sound and stupidly leaned over to have a look. Yep a blast of friggin hot coolent to the eye. After washing my eye i went and put about another 2 litres of water in the car then jacked it in for the night. I sat with a wet towl full of ice on my face for about an hour before my girlfriend and sister told me i had to go to A&E. It didnt take them long to stick a pipe connected to a cotact lense in my eye and run a litre if liquid through it - It was horrible!!!!
I have taken the day off work to sulk about things and have to put cream in my eye and more over my face untill tomorrow when its back to the hosp for a check up.
Might just set fire to the bloody thing!
Ouch!! Sorry to hear that Chris. Hope your eye is OK.
^^^ sounds comfortable :eh: sounds like an airlock also. have you checked the thermostat chum?
Joe Watson
26-02-2006, 16:03
try putting links in the sensors on the fans (down right hand side of front radiator) this will keep the front fans running all the time your ignition is on. you can do the same with the side intake fan by putting a link in the engine fuse box on the appropiate relay (cant remember which one!)
Right guys i Jacked up the front of the car yesterday and found a hole in the rad. Untill i can fit a new one i bunged in some rad weld and the leak seems to have stopped for now. The question is has the HG gone and the extra pressure popped the rad or has the leak caused a lack of coolent hence the over heating? It go me to work fine today with the heater working the whole way. Will check the levels at lunch time.
I had similar symptoms, thought my headgasket had gone. Just replace the radiator first and see how it goes.... I wrote a nice how 2 on imoc for it if you need.
http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/kb.php?mode=article&k=83
oooh well done matey. Will check it out at lunch time then. Work blocks IMOC apart from lunch time but lets me on here all day lol........ At least they have taste :0)
010on1986
28-02-2006, 16:51
on the 16th February 2005 me head gasket blew, water steam and pressure under the rad cap.
JB Welded the block corrosion and head pitting.
Would you believe it .....on the 16th February 2006 me head gasket blew, driving up dundry hill at 7500 rpm. It was fine fine fine until them so fine I resprayed the car and bought a mongoose exhaust I was so satisfied with the repair.
On examination at the point of steam and oil, the lower rad hose was stone cold. (jammed thermostat?) ???? bugger.
Anyway I got the head off again this weekend. The JB Weld has not left the block at all and this time I had oil smoke plus steam.
headgasket jobs are just time and a little money if you do it your self, I just hope mine blows in summer not February.
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