Hey all, i need some help please...

Today i was sat at the hand car wash whilst my car was being cleaned i noticed the revs were dipping down then back up, would repeat doing this for a good 2 minutes then sort itself out again (does this day to day, and never had no problems before so thought nothing of it)

Once they had finished cleanin my car, i set of and the car cut out, started it and it stalled again (i thought maybe abit of water had got in the air filter?) so anyways i kept the revs high and set off out the juction (temps all ok this time, no warnin lights)

I got about a mile up the road, happened to look down and noticed the 'ENGINE TEMP WARNING LIGHT' flashing at me and the temp gauge was off the clock!!! I pulled over straight away and cut the car, steam bellowing from under the bonnet, water boiling out the header tank, it had completely spat out all the water, could see it all over the road i had just come down...

I left the car to cool down, managed to get somebody to bring me some K-Seal and lots of water, filled it up, started it, tried to get it to burp any air out, car running smoothly, temp was fine (where it usually is)...

Drove the car down the road about 1/2 a mile and the temp gauge dramatically started rising again :/ stopped again, let it cool down, topped it with water and tried gettin the air out, in mind the car is perfect on tick over, no overheating, got the car home...

I topped it with the correct amount of water and got as much air out the system as possible, another test drive but this time with the heaters on full blast, car ran excellent for a good 20mins, no overheating, no nothing.. Soon as i turned the heaters of the temp rises very very fast...

Anyone have any ideas???

 

shaz, the first question is where is all the water going. The common problem with our cars is the plastic openings tend to crack, resulting in loss of coolant, therefore overheating. So, check your overflow bottle to make sure that both the big nipple on the front lower portion of the bottle is good and the small nipple on the back, upper section is good. You will be able to see a white line in the opaque plastic if there is a crack.

After that, you are looking at either a failed thermostat or a bad water pump. Based on the fact that you can control the temperature using the heater core (dash heat), that would tell me that your problem most likely lies with the thermostat. The thermostat is fairly easy to replace and isn't that expensive of a part.

 

Thanks for your feedback.. Can you tell me where abouts the thermostat and water pump is located, shes goin into a garage tomoro so we can borrow the ramps, as we haven't had the engine covers off yet it will be easier if we know how to get to them on the 1st search!

 

The water pump is really easy too. Just take out the battery and the battery case. It's right there to the left attached to a belt. It's a fifty dollar part and maybe a half hour to an hours labour. You would actually have to have it out to see if it was broken I imagine.

When mine went, you could fill it, then the coolant would have poured out over the course of half an hour parked.

 

Shaz, like elrod said, for the water pump, remove the battery and look on the end of the head nearest the radiator. You will see a small belt and that has the water pump on it. Super easy to swap out (easiest one on a vehicle I have found).

As for the thermostat, if you look down from the waterpump and a little bit towards the radiator, you will see a coolant hose running to the radiator. In the middle of that hose, you will see a black plastic bulge in the hose. That is the thermostat. Remove the hose clamps/retainers on both ends, pull the hose off of the thermostat, install the new thermostat. You may find it easier to remove the black plastic tray off of the bottom of the car (requires the use of a T27 Torx bit) and then go after the thermostat that way. Just make sure to drain out the coolant first before removing the thermostat else you will end up draining the coolant all over you as the thermostat is almost at the bottom of the radiator.

 

Make sure the radiator fan is working.

 

That was my thought, water ingress during the carwash to the fan control module??