Overheating

[grimesy]

Need your help guys and girlies.

Got back from holiday yesterday jumped in the vee this morning to give it a blast and i was greeted with a vee with no power and it sounded like a tractor.
Im now a fully fledged member of the shagged coil club, no problem it happens and i got it sorted. :approve:

What i have now got a problem with is overheating (even in this cold weather). The temp needle goes off the gauge so to help keep the temp down i put the heaters on full whack. Strange thing is the heaters blow cold air in, then when the temp guage drops down to normal the heater blows hot. :s

Ive worked out the side pod fans have packed up but surely the problem is bigger than this. I am right in assuming the engine should still be able to cool down using the coolant system. Im worried because the temp guage goes off the scale, surely this shouldnt be down to just broken pod fans.

Do these cars have them themostatic valves in them, that when hot they open up and let water through, is there a possibility mine is sticking and causing the car to overheat off the scale and then its eventually opening up allowing the car to cool.

Any help would be great im scared shitless of cooking the car..

 

[grimesy]

Oh yeah and ive checked the coolant and it seems there is plenty of water in there and is no leaks from what i can see.

 

[® Andy]

Hmmm ... the cooling fans normally only come when the front rads aren't being cooled enough by airflow eg.in hot weather or when you're stationary. Hence given the current cold snap, unless the car is stationary, I wouldn't expect the fans to play any part in cooling it at all. Indeed the air temperature is cold enough at the mo, that my temperature gauge is currently running about 10%-20% below my normal level ... even on long fast runs. Hence, reckon you can scratch the fans being the root cause.

So mechanical things I can think of ...
- Yes they do have a thermostatic value, but I thought typically when they fail the car appears to never get up to temperature. I know James has had some problems with his not getting warm, and had his replaced ... not that it helped in his case.
- Since you've got coolant, then perhaps the water pump has failed!?

The alternative is electrical ie. the gauge isn't showing a correct view of things. The fact that the heating was blowing cold adds some credence to the gauge mis-reporting things. Coil failures have been known to make the dash go a bit screwy, so why not quickly reset the dash to at least confirm it's not something "simple" like a calibration funny. Here's how to do it from the wiki ... http://www.v6clio.net/wiki/index.php?ti ... p_Computer

 

[grimesy]

Just get the idea theres someting mechanical going on, the guage does go off the scale but then it does go back to normal then it creeps up again, and sitting in traffic does have an affect cos the guage goes for it and then when im moving it stays at normal.

Thanks andy will try resetting the dash anyway, hopefully its just the guage playing up, it would be betta for my wallet if it was!!

 

[k1ano]

Hmm the only thing I can think of apart from electrical gremlins (resetting may help) is to check to ensure there is antifreeze in the coolant - there should be no reason why not though ...

Martin

 

[Mike T]

water pump, air lock or head gasket?

 

[grimesy]

water pump, air lock or head gasket?

My mate is a merc mech and hes just played with the car and hes just said the same thing.

No offence mike but i hope you and my mate are wrong!!

 

[Mike T]

Fiver its not trivial - mine did this when the rear bank head gasket went

Steam from the exhaust - water in the oil?

Phone Scott

 

[k1ano]

I wasn't thinking anything as drastic but yes it could be something like that where there is only localised heating of the water due to a failure in the water system or leakage.

Martin

 

[grimesy]

Going to go through everything via process of elimination. Will prob will find out exactly what the problem is over the weekend. Thanks for the help guys. Fingers crossed eh! :s