Engine Temp... again

[greysquirrel]

Driving back from cheltenham to bristol today i got stuck in one massive jam, and the temp rarely dropped below 107, i swear i couldnt hear the fan working either. It rached temps of 140 (even 999! presume it doesnt go over 140?) but sat between 117 and 130 quite often. I stopped at the services for 20 mins but this made no difference, straight back to 120, when i got a bit of air into it it did drop to 105 but would not go below 100..
How can i check my fan is working and should the car be getting this hot?

[Rawwr]

Either your temperature sensor is b0rked badly or you have a far, far more worrying problem. The fan should kick in around 102°-104° and lower the temperature to about 90°, if I recall correctly. I believe the owners manual tells you to start panicking if it goes over 110° (I think the Stack starts flashing at 120°).

Get it seen to, pronto.

[moles]

To test the fan, turn ignition off remove wires from the brown temp sensor turn ignition on again and the fan should start running. (the brown ecu sensor is facing towards the passenger seat to the right of the coolant expansion tank.

[greysquirrel]

umm, where is the fan and how do i know when its working.. im sure i could usually hear it but wanna be sure.

[gooby]

is it a toyota or rover engine?

[greysquirrel]

sorry, its a rover engine.
Went for a 10 mile trip and it was smoking quite a bit from the exhaust for the first mile but then seemed fine and didnt get much above 90 and sat at 87 which it normally does.
Perhaps/hopefully it was just being stupid on the motorway?

[bogie]

you may have (hopefully) a dodgy temp sensor - I cant remember whether its the blue or brown one that runs the stack - try www.elise-faq.com for info.....if those temps are correct though, and youre coolant temp is really getting that high/jumping around, you may well have HGF

[beedub]

if it wasnt smoking before the overheating incident id say you HG maye on its way out, check for oil in water and vice versa, of to really do a proper check do a compression test, should be pretty much even across the cylinders

[moles]

greysquirrel said:

umm, where is the fan and how do i know when its working.. im sure i could usually hear it but wanna be sure.

Fan is underneath the rad at the front of the car, you cant see it but will hear it.(can normally be heard from inside the car).

[greysquirrel]

Ok the saga continues..
No signs of HGF in oil cap, couldnt get to the radiator to check that, and not had any smoke from the exhaust either.
The temp is usually in the 80's as it should be but never seems to sit at 1 temp, every 2 seconds it goes up 1 or 2 degrees, 84, 82, 87,84 etc and when it has been around town a while its about 92,93,95,93 but i did see 102 for flash then back to 92.
How can the temps be changing this much, cant say i noticed the temp guage much before but i dont think it used to jump around like this.?