Have I done any damage????

[DHilly]

Sat in roadworks, all well then temp gauge shoots up to 120 & steam comes out off bonnet vents. Pull over & turn off engine and find water coming from blue cap on expansion tank. Turn on ignition, no fans running. Fuse ok traced to both connectors near to fans. Connectors cleaned & coolant refilled (once cool). Seems to be OK but as title. Could I have done any lasting damage?

[cjj799]

Impossible to say, but you probably caught it in time as you appear to have reacted quickly.
You would need to get the fans checked out and keep an eye that it is not using water, as if it does then there may be a head gasket blown.
Hopefully your quick reaction saved it.

[meths]

Not easy to tell. Keep an eye on the water level for the next few weeks.


You might want to think about fitting a manual override for the fans?

[roseytvr]

How much water to refill?

[V8 GRF]

Unlikely you've done any serious damage as yiu seen to have reacted very quickly but I'd check you don't have any airlocks after refilling.

[DHilly]

roseytvr said:

How much water to refill?

About 3 pints, when I got home I checked the levels by filling the swirl tank & all seems well will keep an eye on things for the next few miles but hopefully I caught thinks in time.

[Bassfiend229hp]

If you only lost 3 pints or so then I'd have thought you should be fine - just make sure that you check the water level in the swirl pot and not the water level in the expansion tank.

Phil

[bsdnazz]

DHilly said:

About 3 pints, when I got home I checked the levels by filling the swirl tank & all seems well will keep an eye on things for the next few miles but hopefully I caught thinks in time.

Did you undo the vent on the radiator to let any air in there out?

When checking levels I first open the swirl pot and then the vent on the radiator until a little water comes out - this should not take long unless there's lots of air in the radiator! Then I close up the radiator vent and top up the swirl pot.

[DHilly]

bsdnazz said:

DHilly said:

About 3 pints, when I got home I checked the levels by filling the swirl tank & all seems well will keep an eye on things for the next few miles but hopefully I caught thinks in time.

Did you undo the vent on the radiator to let any air in there out?

When checking levels I first open the swirl pot and then the vent on the radiator until a little water comes out - this should not take long unless there's lots of air in the radiator! Then I close up the radiator vent and top up the swirl pot.

Yes did that then run up with swirl pot top off, refitted & tighen up then left to cool. Later started & run up to temp, fans cut in & out okay took for quick spin and all seems OK

[QBee]

You say "fans cut in and out ok" - did you actually look at them to make sure BOTH were working?

[DHilly]

QBee said:

You say "fans cut in and out ok" - did you actually look at them to make sure BOTH were working?

Yes Both fans working OK now. It was strange that when I was fault finding by the roadside that both the conectors to the fans were dodgy, maybe one had stopped a while ago and the other one failing brought about the overheating?

I have cleaned up the connectors and applied some vaseline to them, both now working fine.

cheers

[QBee]

DHilly said:

QBee said:

You say "fans cut in and out ok" - did you actually look at them to make sure BOTH were working?

Yes Both fans working OK now. It was strange that when I was fault finding by the roadside that both the conectors to the fans were dodgy, maybe one had stopped a while ago and the other one failing brought about the overheating?

I have cleaned up the connectors and applied some vaseline to them, both now working fine.

cheers

Well done for sorting it yourself.

Two weeks ago I could have posted your original post! I had several overheating occurrences, and finally realised I had fan issues. I tested the connectors below the fans, but nothing. In fact I had one dodgy connector below the radiator, but also my otter switch had failed. Worked out the latter by shorting out the switch (screwdriver across the terminals after pulling the leads back slightly), at which point I got one working fan, and fiddling with the connectors got both going.

Otter switch on my car is on the radiator, just below the top hose, passenger side therefore. 30 mm socket needed. Switch £8-£13, from any motor factor. Just in case you or anyone else (like me) doesn't know.

[EGB]

Check the VW screw top on the expansion tank is ok and holding pressure after refill.