over heating on a 156 1.8t spark petrol
Discussion
hi there just wondering if anyone can give me a bit of advice on my motor, the problem is the engine is over heating rapidly, i have tried draining the water/coolant system and filling again just incase there was air in, and have replaced the thermostat but this has been to no avail, the water is not getting passed the top pipe for the radiator so it seems to be a circulation problem hence the reason for the rapid over heating, a pal reckons it could be the gasket head, i am not very technical but the engine sounds fine, there is no extra smoke and there is no water in the oil or oil in the water.
any help would be much appreciated as i am skint after paying for a new front suspension and a front pipe and lamda sensor in the last 3 weeks. many thaks in advance ss72
any help would be much appreciated as i am skint after paying for a new front suspension and a front pipe and lamda sensor in the last 3 weeks. many thaks in advance ss72
How serious is the over heating? Mine shoots to over 90 if I'm just stopped at the lights for a few minutes, and always has, it seems to go down very quickly though. Just had a major service, cambelt change etc etc and nothing changed, is it just an Alfa thing? Sorry I'm not very technical, but it did concern me for the first few weeks of ownership
You've drained and refilled, but do you need to bleed the system?
Water pump OK? If it's not circulating, then *could* be this I 'spose, although as I'm no mechanical genius I can't say much more than that. Thing is, if is the waterpump, be on your guard, as it runs off the cambelt, and as I'm sure you know, you don't want any problems around there!
Radiator OK and not blocked to búggery with all the cráp that's around this time of year?
Are you losing water? Are there clouds of steam from the exhaust even when hot?
Water pump OK? If it's not circulating, then *could* be this I 'spose, although as I'm no mechanical genius I can't say much more than that. Thing is, if is the waterpump, be on your guard, as it runs off the cambelt, and as I'm sure you know, you don't want any problems around there!
Radiator OK and not blocked to búggery with all the cráp that's around this time of year?
Are you losing water? Are there clouds of steam from the exhaust even when hot?
Mine is going in on Friday to get this looked problem at as well. Been a problem now for best part of 4-5 months. in that time I have had new head gasket (un-related) and basically an engine re-build. (again un-related) Basically started with a radiator going.....replaced and was fine for a few weeks and then hasn't really been the same since. Regularly goes above 90 in traffic, but soon goes down again when moving. The fan always seems to keep it under control however.
Don't worry too much about what the guage registers- it's not calibrated.
When you say "overheats quickly", how quickly? For instance, if the engine was cold, and you let it idle, how long would it take. If you then put the heater fan at full speed and the heat control to hot, would this delay the overheating? By my reckoning, it should take about 10 mins from cold without using the heater, and about 15-20 mins while using the heater before the cooling fan cuts in.
BTW, is the heater producing warm air, and will the cooing fan cut in when warm?
If the heater dosen't warm up it is either the impellor has fallen off the coolant pump, the system is air locked or the head gasket has failed.
If the heater does warm up, its either a failed thermostat (very unlikely as it's new), a blocked radiator or head gasket failure.
If the head gasket has failed, the cooling system will quickly pressurise with combustion gasses even although the cooling system generally appears to be quite cool.
If the heater is cold, try bleeding the system with the engine off. Remove one of the heater hoses from the rear of the thermostat housing and fill up the system slowly. Only when all of the air appears to be purged should you reconnect the hose. I often find that the engine must be run at high speed to remove all the air from the system; but only do that with a warm engine of course. Hope that helps...
When you say "overheats quickly", how quickly? For instance, if the engine was cold, and you let it idle, how long would it take. If you then put the heater fan at full speed and the heat control to hot, would this delay the overheating? By my reckoning, it should take about 10 mins from cold without using the heater, and about 15-20 mins while using the heater before the cooling fan cuts in.
BTW, is the heater producing warm air, and will the cooing fan cut in when warm?
If the heater dosen't warm up it is either the impellor has fallen off the coolant pump, the system is air locked or the head gasket has failed.
If the heater does warm up, its either a failed thermostat (very unlikely as it's new), a blocked radiator or head gasket failure.
If the head gasket has failed, the cooling system will quickly pressurise with combustion gasses even although the cooling system generally appears to be quite cool.
If the heater is cold, try bleeding the system with the engine off. Remove one of the heater hoses from the rear of the thermostat housing and fill up the system slowly. Only when all of the air appears to be purged should you reconnect the hose. I often find that the engine must be run at high speed to remove all the air from the system; but only do that with a warm engine of course. Hope that helps...
My mate's 2.0 T'spark did something very similar. In his case, the control mechanism for the cooling fan was poorly. I think they have a 2 speed cooling fan. It comes on at low speed quite early but if the low speed circuit doesn't work, the fan doesn't come on until later (i.e. higher temperature) - and when it does, it runs faster. This lead to the same symptoms - temperature gauge went higher than it used to but when the fan cut in, the gauge also dropped faster than it used to.
SCOOTERMAN said:
Regularly goes above 90 in traffic, but soon goes down again when moving. The fan always seems to keep it under control however.
You're taking it in for that? That's normal!
So if that is normal....why did it never used to do it for the first 18 months of my ownnership?
It's going in for a few other things any way - Avocet has got it spot on.....this is what I believe is the problem with mine.
>> Edited by sixpot on Friday 18th November 13:24
>> Edited by sixpot on Friday 18th November 13:26
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