Possible overheat problem help
Discussion
Was driving home this evening in heavy traffic and heard a crackling from passenger footwell thought speaker was shorting maybe water in door or something.
Really panicked when I saw smoke coming up round the instrument cluster thought I was on fire!
Noticed temp was slightly high only about 1cm higher than normal realised it was probably leaking coolant. Put heater on full and temp came down so got home ok was fine then left it idling and didn't overheat again.
Looked under bonnet and seemed there was a bit of water passenger side at rear of engine guess this is where coolant sprayed out.
Any ideas what happened or what's wrong?
Really panicked when I saw smoke coming up round the instrument cluster thought I was on fire!
Noticed temp was slightly high only about 1cm higher than normal realised it was probably leaking coolant. Put heater on full and temp came down so got home ok was fine then left it idling and didn't overheat again.
Looked under bonnet and seemed there was a bit of water passenger side at rear of engine guess this is where coolant sprayed out.
Any ideas what happened or what's wrong?
They don't overheat at idle. Even a car with a badly blocked rad is normally ok at idle. If the rad is dying then they get hotter the faster you drive and a motorway cruise will see it overheat. It does sound to me like a blocked rad.
Let it get up to temp then put your hand through the "mouth" and feel the front of the rad all over for cold-spots - it should be an even temp all over.
Let it get up to temp then put your hand through the "mouth" and feel the front of the rad all over for cold-spots - it should be an even temp all over.
Topped up the expansion tank with coolant and drove it to work this morning. Seemed to heat up quicker than normal but didnt overheat at all even on the motorway.
Checked when i got to work and the expansion tank was empty though no sign of any coolant in the engin bay this time.
It only overheated yesterday in traffic where i was constantly just edging forward. I moved the heater to hot and changed the blower to windscreen (was on footwell & Cabin) and it seemed to sort it.
Checked when i got to work and the expansion tank was empty though no sign of any coolant in the engin bay this time.
It only overheated yesterday in traffic where i was constantly just edging forward. I moved the heater to hot and changed the blower to windscreen (was on footwell & Cabin) and it seemed to sort it.
Still sounds like a blocked rad to me. They shouldn't overheat at all under any circumstances. Even on mine when I had 215bhp and the stock rad and no oil-cooler I could thrash it around all day on track and the coolant temp wouldn't budge.
Remember, on your car you have a non-linear coolant temp gauge. It will sit at the "normal" position (usually just over half way) right up to the point where it's about to boil at which point it jumps up. It won't show any slight rise over "normal" to give any indicator of a problem developing.
Remember, on your car you have a non-linear coolant temp gauge. It will sit at the "normal" position (usually just over half way) right up to the point where it's about to boil at which point it jumps up. It won't show any slight rise over "normal" to give any indicator of a problem developing.
So far, temp gauge and water loss wise, I had 3 problems..
1) The rear hoses by the bulkhead (as described above) had split
2) The radiator cap was knackered, even though it seemed ok.
3) I had a split in a front top pipe which was so tiny, I only spotted it after a friend sat in the car with it revving up and I noticed what seemed like one strand of a spiders cobweb spraying from the side of it.
I simply replaced all my top and bottom hoses with a kit in the end and since doing all of the above, I get no more water loss and the temp gauge never moves.Before this, a few times, it would rise very high in traffic and when pulling up hills etc.It wouldn't always do it, however.
1) The rear hoses by the bulkhead (as described above) had split
2) The radiator cap was knackered, even though it seemed ok.
3) I had a split in a front top pipe which was so tiny, I only spotted it after a friend sat in the car with it revving up and I noticed what seemed like one strand of a spiders cobweb spraying from the side of it.
I simply replaced all my top and bottom hoses with a kit in the end and since doing all of the above, I get no more water loss and the temp gauge never moves.Before this, a few times, it would rise very high in traffic and when pulling up hills etc.It wouldn't always do it, however.
When my radiator went (blocked) it was completely fine under any conditions until I took it above a certain speed, then it would start to overheat, as soon as I slowed down it would start to cool.
Ended up replacing the whole thing, the temp gauge really shouldn't move once it's at it's usual spot.
Ended up replacing the whole thing, the temp gauge really shouldn't move once it's at it's usual spot.
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