Burning hydrocarbon (petrol/gas/diesel):

CxHy + nO2 -> H2O + CO2

If exhaust hot enough the H2O is vapour (steam) as it exits

 

Ok I get that - thank you, it just doesn't seem normal to have puddles of water in my exhaust tips. Will test more today hopefully the exhaust was just not hot enough

 

Replaced the engine coolant reservoir/overflow tank on Sat. Pretty easy. (There was a small split in former tank.) After refilling, had to top it up twice. Now works as it should -- no more leaking and temp gauge in middle. Till next something breaks...

 

Hardest part of replacing my reservoir was reinstalling the plastic sensor at the bottom, for some reason it was super hard to turn into the lock position. Had to use a flat head and plenty of force to get it to turn in and lock. It came out of the old reservoir easily so im guessing the replacement aftermarket one was just not manufactured / QA well. Total replacement took me 30min.

 

Drove the car for 30min, temp is fine when at speeds above 40+ mph (guessing the air flow keeps the engine cool) but at idle/traffic the temp rises and overheats.

At what point should the radiator fan kick on? Checking if the fan comes on at all going to put the car on at idle for a bit now, update to follow.


I was reading this post on the forum going to test fuses now

 

You need to properly bleed your cooling system. There is a JTIS procedure to do so. (Get this out of the way first) as you might have an air pocket lingering.

A good test to check general fan operation is to turn on your AC (even when you first start the car cold).

Fan should come on high, if not you have a problem with either your fan motor, fan module or fuse/relay.

PS - if your car was overheating and you turned the car off the fans should've continued running on high for a few minutes, so I think you definitely have an issue with your cooling fan.

 

Car overheated at idle after 25min with mixed revving to 1500rpm, fan never turned on either cold with AC or after car was hot.

Low coolant warning came on and off randomly even with reservoir full - water in reservoir was hot / hoses hot. [B]

Tested fuse F13 and F38 both are ok, show 0 with multimeter continuity testing. Not sure which relay to test or how, will research and figure out why fan is not working next.

Apologies - was pushing the fan shroud blade, DOH rookie mistake. Fan blades are spinning freely by hand.

 

If your fan blades check out and spin somewhat freely you need to look at the cooling fan control module and associated fuses/relay(s)

Don't rule out the fan motor either as it can seize up when heated and work intermittently.

Tell tale sign is your fan not coming on when AC is commanded.

Do not drive or run vehicle and do not attempt to bleed system further until this lack of fan issue is sorted out.

Probably the root cause of your overheating problems from the start and the excess temps/pressure put your reservoir tank over the edge.

Any more running of the engine is going to add stress to the remainder of your cooling system.

 

Update- Car is running normally again.

After digging in to find why the fan was not going, I noticed a wire hanging down and wire harness split open, after splicing and rejoining the wire- MAGIC fan kicked back in. I should have checked the fan plug earlier.

In any case- all seems to be well. Now my only step left is to drain the water and replace with coolant + properly bleed the cooling system. I will do some research on that next.

Thank you again to everyone for the guidance, much appreciated!

 

Man, these overheating issues are the pits!

 

Fairly unusual, too.