Tell them to flush the old coolant out completely and fill with new coolant, not just refill it, better if you DIY.

 

Not sure what to do but I am suspecting the Fan Control Module here:

My x-type is overheating when in is sitting still at idle. If the car is moving everything is fine. If I'm stopped or sitting in a drive thru or or just slow traffic it overheats slowly and once I start moving again in returns to normal. I can hear the fans coming on and going off and then they seem to just stop. Any ideas?

Brad

 

Paemtp535, There are two things could happen: 1-It could be water pump fault; When you idle the pump is not circulate enough coolant through the radiator to cool the engine, when engine ran at higher RPM the coolant ran through radiator faster, that help engine cool down, may be the belt tensioner was broke it didn't pulled the belt tight, may be the water pump belt was loose, hope this is the culprit, they are cheap and easy to replace. To check the pump, if you don't know where the pump is located, stand at the driver side fender, look at the end of engine under intake hose and air box, you'll see a small belt wrap around three pulley, one bigger with three round hole, that's the cam shaft drive pulley, the other smaller two, one on the left is belt tensioner, one on the right is pump drive, you might need to remove the battery to check belt tensioner, push on the belt to see if it tight or loose 2- if there's a blockage in the cooling system, it going to be harder and cost more to fix: When the engine is at idle, the blockage restrict the flow of coolant, that will make the engine over heat, when the engine increase speed (RPM) it pushed more coolant around, so the temp will come down. If the thermostat stuck, the temp will increased if the engine run faster and it will get over heat until some hose blow off or it will blow the head gasket and water will come into the engine. To find out if radiator is clogged up, remove the upper radiator hose to see if water come in radiator? If it does, put the hose back, now remove lower radiator hose to see if coolant coming out? If it come out slowly or very little, your radiator is clogged up, if coolant flow out, the blockage is some where in the engine.

 

Paemtp535, I see, you in Hershey, I'm in East Petersburg, I know Paul in Lititz, may be we can meet some time?

 

Well, we got it done! $750 and hoses replaced; flushed and out within 4 hours! The Firestone location had a Jaguar tech (which was lucky). Got 6 mos. no interest and we are at least glad to be on the road again!!
Thanks for all your help!

 

Hi Guys,
I have been having overheating issues with my 2006 2.1l x-type for a while, It looks like someone has replaced the water pump recently before I got her, since I bought it the fans gave me issues ("Thermo" and other members provided great advice but I still have issues) despite replacing the module still had issue so I had a sparky mate (charged like he wasn't lol) by-pass and put in a temp sender unit and fan speeed controller so now the AC fan comes on as it should with AC and the main one cuts in at around 95degrees, I suspected thermostat stuck but turned out to be broken housing so I just removed it and refitted the housing.
I did a major flush of the system but this had no effect, problem I have been getting is at lights (idle) she will gradually increase temp to 115 according to the ODBCII once moving it would return to 100 and rise quickly at next stop. I now suspected radiator so I have today replaced it also, I now have what I think is a recent water pump, no thermostat, and a new radiator, running Evans waterless coolant, engine has full synthetic oil new plugs and coil packs and air filters and new radiator hoses.
from cold she takes a while to reach operating temp 90 before fan cuts in at 95, if she gets to 110 or more fan will run after killing engine until it drops back to 95, without AC on and dash temp set to high it does get hot in car so I think the heater core is good, there are no leaks and levels remains constant in tank.
from cold there is a slight missing in the engine which might be a head gasket although not proven to try to eliminate I did the unthinkable and added repair agent to coolant, I will know in morning if that has done anything but driving back from store it started to overheat again getting to 113.
I am suspecting the water pump might not be doing the best job even though it looks like a recent replacement (is there such a thing as a high flow pump replacement) also the radiator is a bit skinny, I live in Australia so we get pretty warm and bigger rads are normal here.
forgot to say the replacd radiator I pulled apart and it was pretty clean all through not one fully blocked core.

hoping for ideas as I am running out and getting frustrated, cheers in advance guys.

 

Wayne, I know this is going to sound silly, but your problem is most likely because you don't have a thermostat in the car. The water is moving too fast through the radiator to get it to cool adequately. Put a good thermostat in there. Granted, it may be that the "new" water pump does have an issue. So, when you are putting in the thermostat, putting in another water pump would be a good time.

 

Second the thermostat post from thermo. Also, the thermostat has a "foot" on it, which closes off the bypass pipe. This will make the engine gradually heat up

 

Hi Thermo,
thanks for post, I had thought of that but discounted the thermostats ability to regulate flow once normal operating temp is reached but thinking of fredd60's post it wasn't a basic thermostat thinking about it so maybe it does make some sense that in closed position the foot serves a purpose they are a stupid price though so I guess I was talking myself out of spending the money, looks like I have no choice but to go for it first then a water pump if that does not fix it.
cheers chaps.

 

I have ordered a new thermostat and water pump from Ebay cheaper than the ones I first looked at so not so painful to the wallet $125 for both, they are due to arrive in couple of weeks so I will report back after fitting and testing is done.

 

ok well good news at last, water pump and thermostat arrived and I have just finished installing and testing and happy to report the cat is running cool once again.
Although I replaced the radiator it had previously had a small leak in core so even though it was pretty clean was no bad thing, the water pump was near new with only a little surface rust internally but what the heck peace of mind and all that, the hoses needed replacing no no whinge there.
the coolant I had luckily changed to evans waterless otherwise I might have been writing a different story.
I had thought just doing away with the broken thermostat would suffice, turns out you cannot run this car without one because without the water will not be forced to enter the block and just the top level of hot water would circulate and just get hotter and hotter, WITH the thermostat the water is forced through the housing into the block blocking off the T piece of top hose and letting the water pump do its job.
before doing this work and after I had removed the old thermostat she would gradually rise in temp and get really hot at lights 118 degrees + now she gets to 89 which is where I have set the after market fan cut in switch to come on and with outside temp of 29 to 33 degrees celcius (it is our autumn in Oz) she ran very happily at 88-95 degrees even sitting at lights for several minutes, cruising at 100kph she sits at 89 - 93.
So Thermo was absolutely correct again silly as it sounds you must have a good thermostat in these cars, I am no longer scared to take her out but I will keep a close eye on gauge and check via ODBII occassionally.
Thanks guys.

one thought when putting new thermostat and housing up into connecting plastic housing there are corresponding shoulders to align new one to, hard to explain without picture but the new thermostat is held under pressure into a couple of plastic extensions which is where mine had snapped causing the problem in the first place, when putting complete thermostat and housing into its mate from under the car its mate has shoulders so install the new one to support extensions to help prevent future failure of the little plastic extensions holding the thermostat together, if this makes any sense I hope.

I still have the issue of the battery charge light coming on and off for no apparent reason, the alternator is new and rates are all correct, battery drop testing all good just a weird thing to happen, I never have a flat battery even after long drives with light on, well I am happy at the moment with cooling success so not going to let this light bug me.
cheers again guys your'e awesome.

 

Hi Wayne. Regarding the charge light coming on occasionally, I would suspect the alternator brushes being almost worn out. Next, electrical connections to the battery, and to the light; (check for corrosion). Then check that earth leads aren't defective or corroded.
good luck
Pete

 

Hi Fredd thanks for the suggestions, it definately isn't alternator I replaced it thinking same thing and what a pain to replace, anyway the old one I took apart after the electrical workshop told me it was a faulty regulator and sold me the $300 replacement the brushes looked almost new which made me think it had already been replaced before I bought the car, then I went through all the earth connections I could find and cleaned all of them and battery terminals still the problem, it doesnt seem to make any issues though it always starts with plenty of battery power, I have noticed though at night headlights are bright and when Air Con clutch kicks in the lights dim a little this may indicate battery or poor connection somewhere still to be found, the search continues but at least the overheating is fixed yippee lol

 

Wayne, look at the power wire going from the engine bay fuse box to the passenger compartment fuse box. That may be the source of your problems if that wire is dropping too much voltage.

 

Hi Thermo,
thanks for the thermostat advice it was the cause of overheating, I think I already knew that just didn't want to spend more money silly me lol
I don't suppose you have any pictures or know which wires I should be looking for exactly for the volt drop ?? do you mean the big harness in front of driver going to ECM special tool to unscrew bolt or are the more from fuse box to fuse box ?
cheers.

 

Wayne, The wire in question is a black wire that runs from the maxi-fuse (150 amp) on the underside of the engine bay fuse box to the passenger compartment fuse box. it is about the diameter of a pencil/pen. What you will want to do is to use a multimeter and measure from the positive battery terminal (the lead part on the battery, not the clamp portion that you tighten down) to fuse F27 (if you look on the top of the fuse, there are 2 metal tabs there, you will want to touch either one of them). You want to do this in a condition that your issue is present. You should get under 0.5 VDC. ANything more than this and you have a high resistance connection somewhere and you will need to look at the positive battery cable for issues. Note the reading on the multimeter.

Now, gaining access to the passenger fuse box, you want to find fuse F31. You are going to take another voltage measurement between the positive battery terminal and fuse F31. Do you get under 1.0 VDC? You will also want to take this reading and subtract out what you got on your first reading to see if you are under 0.5 VDC. If your result is over 0.5 VDC, you have a condition that is starting to show and will need attention in the future.

Lets see what you have at this point and then we can tailor what we do next based on the results.

 

thanks thermo I will do this when next the alt light comes on and report findings, you guys are so knowledgeable this is the best place to find answers.
cheers.

 

You don't need to do all this, but this video shows you the "maxi-fuse" Thermo mentions.

 

Thanks for the input Dell and the video but why do I not need to do all that Thermo says to test ? what am I supposed to do to find problem? taking the fuse box out seems a bit much without a reason.
cheers,
Wayne

 

"You don't need to do all this" as in TEAR THE BOX COMPLETELY OUT.