Overheating problem

[Jupp318]

Yesterday I completed my 85 mile journey home with no issues. Having been at home for about 5 minutes I went to drive the car again. After about a 1/4 mile (In a 30 limit not a dragrace) I got an engine overheating alarm. I stopped a short while later with the engine boiling up.
I tried adding some water with the engine running but it just ran out by the front nearside wheel. Having spent sometime taking the expansion tank off I realised that the water would just be flowing out of the expansion tank breather.
Can anyone suggest what I need to do next? or indeed what the problem is? Car is a Monaro VXR 6.0
Cheers Ian...

[mfp4073]

I would always start with the easy options first.
Check all your coolant hoses and clips.
The hoses usually rub up against the rear of the drivers side cylinder head. They can also catch on a captive bolt on top of the chassis rail. This can be found by following the heater pipes from the heater valve towards the water pump, this is also located on the drivers side.
If all is well and you still have an original radiator I would be checking the radiator plastic end caps. These are well known for leaking due to the heat making them brittle.
Don't forget to check your radiator cap, they are also a known failure point, even though it might look OK.
Failing that there maybe a blockage some where in the system.


John

[Superhans_]

Mate never add cold water to a hot engine!

[jet_noise]

Were the fans running?

[vaxer]

if the fans weren't running then there may be a blown fuse - I've had this problem myself and it took ages to sort out... check fuse #32 (if it's the same as the VXR8 6.0) in the main fuse box and see if it's gone.

[Jupp318]

Thanks for the replies. In the end I put it all back together, made sure the rad was filled as well as the expansion tank. Started it up checking that I couldn't see any leaks. Drove it the half mile home with no probs. Kept the engine running with the bonnet up, the fans started and then stopped indicating that the cooling system was ok. Heater worked OK as well so I'm a bit foxed with what happened. I'll just have to keep an eye on things to make sure it doesn't happen again. The only thing left (in my mind) that may have caused this is if a head gasket is letting water into the oil/engine, again keeping an eye on the oil level and seeing if any emulsion forms in the oil cap or on the dipstick will be the thing to do.