Overheating

[jac114]

O.k so i may have been pushing the old girl for a while on the way back from the meet..But just as i was about 1/4 mile from home after doing Between 80-120mph for about 100miles my temp gauge shot up to the red after comming of duel carrage way and slowing down to 50-60mph... My rad was full but i had steam pouring out the overflow hose from the rad water bottle....The fan was o.k and working It was not slipping Either..Can anybody tell me what would make it do this.(Or is it as simple as me driving it like that?)..I was a bit worried as to what to do..stop and turn off.. or carry on slowly.. or just stop and leave the engine running... I tried all but it just stayed up there in the red..I decided to stop and turn off engine., Then once the bubbling stoped i took the cap off... As it stared to cool down to about 3/4 i was worried that it might crack the head so started up again to get the fan running... But then the gauge started rising again.. so i turned it off and hoped for the best

cheers

jac

[norkep]

It sounds like you may have had the same problem that I had with mine, the reason there was steam coming out of the bottle is that the system was depressursing, resulting in the presure being released in steam, the easy way of telling of have a seal gone in the rad or on the cap is to put food colouring in - a bright colour and have a look for the tell-tale marks - I did and found it was just under the intake

You can see if you are loosing water, with a small split on the rad, it will take a few days to show, unfortunately, with a split like that, the only way to cool down the engine is to turn it off. As for cracking the head, the engine management light will come on advising the heat on the block is getting near limits. I was able to limp the car back 10 mile with the light and the hood up. no point putting the heater on, no presure, no heat. If you can't find the leak, why put rad weld in, it worked for me and still working - for now anyway.

[Steve ( West Mids )]

Could be a head gasket gone ( look at oil & water and see if there is leak from one to the other - slimey water, bubbles on dipstick ).

[norkep]

Could be a head gasket gone ( look at oil & water and see if there is leak from one to the other - slimey water, bubbles on dipstick ).

On these, you get oil blowing out the back first folllowed by lots of water.

If the head has gone, you will also see a mustard colour on the inside of the oil cap - as well as a BIG bill heading your way, good luck.

[randyreindeer]

Before you start getting a bad back from lifting off that big long cylinder head, is it worth checking that your engine oil was up to the job and was there in the right quantity. This plays a major part in cooling as well as lubricating

[jac114]

Its o.k guys.. Think we have sorted it now.. Yes the oil was fine... no mustard colour anywhere ..no water with oil

. Just a plonker of a owner I thought that you filled the rad via the expansion tank.. Anyway a guy from Renault had a look at it ( they have a workshop on the industrial estate i work on) Filled the rad up properly. And made sure that all was working ok I.E water pump thermostat and whatever else he could check..... All is now fine.. He thinks that i may have also had a problem with the old rad cap... now have a new one anyway. Monday he is going to do a pressure test on it just to make 100% sure.. he is trying to find a adaptor for his renault tester.

Cheers all

jac

[Keith Bowler]

Hi Jac

Glad to hear you got your GS sorted.

Re topping up the rad, if you don't top up through the expansion bottle, how do you top up when expansion bottle indicates low fluid level?

I would be interested to hear.

Keith Bowler

[jac114]

It was more of a case of filling up rad rather than topping up rad... I blew about 90% of the water out.. without knowing.. Somewhere along the M25/A3 Next morning topped up rad via expansion bottle about 1 pint of water..

That basically sat in the bottle with air below ..so when i went a few miles air heated up and blew it back out again..hence overheating very quickly.. I put in 1 pint..lol The rad took about 4ltrs (Well thats what I seem to understand as the problem). Hey can build P.C's i can configure p.c's But an engine... no hope

jac

[Matthew_McNally]

Hey can build P.C's i can configure p.c's But an engine... no hope

jac

welcome to the club jac

you want to stand over here with me , and the other geeks who know nothing about engines?

[jac114]

For a minute there i thought i was the only one here that did not know about the workings of cars... lol

Comming to join you over there matthew

jac

[Monster-Mat]

Jac114 & Matt, dont worry, Zee will be joining you shortly

[torrent]

I think when filling the coolant system it helps if you keep squeezing the coolant pipes as you are doing it. This helps prevent those airlocks.