Help required - overheating mx5 on holiday :(

[CabbageMS]

Hi all, I'm in a minor predicament. The missus and I are on a road trip from Guernsey (via Portsmouth) to Scotland. We're using an mx5 1.6 NA which has definitely been sat around too long... We discovered 20 minutes into our journey that if we try and cruise at 65 the temp rockets! I noticed the previous owner had left the expansion tank topped to the brim, so this may have been a problem he had to.

I dropped the coolant yesterday and topped up with about a 50/50 and freeze mix. That helped but not by much. The water in the bottom of the expansion tank was sludgy and rust coloured. I've moved the number plate away from the rad intake in order to help but we can still only cruise at 55-60 but keeping the in car heater on. Not ideal at this time of year!

I believe the rad is gunked up and my plan is to find a hose pipe and back flow it for a few minutes to try and clear the crap. I realise this probably won't be a gold standard fix but as I'm away from home I just want to keep the car in a state where it'll run at 65-70 without boiling over!

So I'm rather cheekily asking whether anyone between the York-Edinburgh area would mind us using a garden Hose for a few minutes? Will pay in beer or cash for the assistance

[buggalugs]

Sorry Cheshire here but have a bump,

Ps Scrappy on Monday morning?

[TooMany2cvs]

Is the fan working?

[ooo000ooo]

Is the thermostat opening fully?

[thecremeegg]

Do you have Aircon? If so, use it as the second radiator fan only works when the ac is activated. When my mx5 had a leaky radiator it would overheat and the ac trick helped. If you have time then you can splice both fans together which will help.

[CabbageMS]

Thanks for replies.

No AC.

Unsure whether Stat opens fully, have a for a socket set and on me so I could remove it but I don't have any sealant on me so not sure how well resealing he housing would go.

[Cemesis]

Have you felt the radiator when the car is hot to see if its blocked? Cooler areas indicate blockages but if the radiator is not the problem (unlikely) then it could be as simple as a thermostat stuck closed (which can only be solved by taking it out) or a dead water pump.

[darkyoung1000]

CabbageMS said:

Thanks for replies.

No AC.

Unsure whether Stat opens fully, have a for a socket set and on me so I could remove it but I don't have any sealant on me so not sure how well resealing he housing would go.

I'm in York, feel free to PM me.

Tom

[CabbageMS]

Radiator does feel cool in quite large areas!

[iantek]

I think the seal on the thermostat housing is with a cork or card gasket, I did do the stat once but I can't recall sealant being used. I'm no expert though.

[trickywoo]

ooo000ooo said:

Is the thermostat opening fully?

I'd look at this first too.

Not sure where it is on MX5 but they are normally easy to get at and not the part won't be expensive.

[CabbageMS]

darkyoung1000 said:

I'm in York, feel free to PM me.

Tom

Embarrassingly I can't work out how to pm! Possibly because I'm on mobile??

[Fox-]

Can't you get water at many petrol stations?

[darkyoung1000]

CabbageMS said:

darkyoung1000 said:

I'm in York, feel free to PM me.

Tom

Embarrassingly I can't work out how to pm! Possibly because I'm on mobile??

PM with contact details sent, give me a shout if you want to pop over.

Cheers,
Tom

[CabbageMS]

Hi Tom, I've emailed you my contact details as I can't for the life of me work out how to access emails/pms from pistonheads

[Paul Dishman]

We had this with my wife's MX5. I reckon you'll need a new radiator.

[Dogwatch]

Holt's Radflush?

[darkyoung1000]

CabbageMS said:

Hi Tom, I've emailed you my contact details as I can't for the life of me work out how to access emails/pms from pistonheads

Cool, all being well you should have a text from me!

Cheers,
Tom

[Kinky]

How far have you got so far?

[GroundEffect]

Fan is irrelevant at 65mph.

It's pretty sure to be tstat.