Cooling Issue's

[mx5 shaun]

Hi there I have a mk1 mx5 that I did a head gasket and water pump 3 months ago but I am having some cooling problems recently it started out yesterday as I was returning from work when I found the temperature gauge was getting higher than usual and it was steaming from under the bonnet I ended up having to pull over twice to let the car cool down when I stopped and checked under the bonnet the fan was working and I had steam coming from the water pump pulley and that general direction. I got the car home and checked the thermostat and found that was very hard to open so I took the thermostat out for the time being. I drove the car to work and back and on the way back I was stuck in traffic the temperature gauge did not hit such high temperatures but I still had some steam coming from under the bonnet I checked the coolant level in the radiator when it has cooled down and it had dropped quite abit so I topped that up. What do you think the problem could be, I thought water pump but I changed the water pump 12000km ago, I also thought maybe a popped radiator but that got changed 7000km ago, it could be a hole in the radiator hoses I need to check this out on a dry day? I have done the usual quick head gasket checks ie. oil filler cap and dipstick but my oil level is fine so I doubt that it is head gasket problems? Any help would be appreciated thanks shaun

[Rickyy]

Is the rad leaking? Mine was when I bought it and was losing a lot of coolant, but strangely enough the temp never rose.

This is how mine looked when I pulled it out...