Technical OVERHEATING

[pmcnulty]

On Friday I drove from Brunssum in Holland to Mons in Belgium. En route I got stuck at Maastricht where on top of the usual 6 sets of traffic lights slowing me down in rush hour traffic, there was also a contraflow. With 30 mins of stop - start low gear driving my rad overheated and steam started coming from under the bonnet with the gauge reading 130 degrees c (RED). I couldn't pull over straight away cos of the contraflow so I put the hot air blower on full to detract some of the heat away from the engine (where did I read that trick) and the gauge dropped to about 80 degrees.

At first opportunity I stopped at a services, let the engine cool down (2 coffee conaletchi later) and checked the expansion tank. It was quite low so I bought some coolant / water mix and topped it up.

Anyhow... Today, I set off on exactly the same journey, got stuck in the same contraflow / traffic lights and the gauge went back up again but not as far although (and here's the weired bit) whenever I slowed right down the gauge popped up to around 100 but as soon as I put my foot back down it dropped almost instantly to 50 ish...

I don't suppose... Anyone have any idea useful advice before I have to tackle a local garage with a total language barrier. The car is a Fiat Tipo 1.4

Oh and in case your wondering, the traffic lights and contraflow en route back to Brunssum didn't affect me cos I was travelling back on Sunday evening with hardly another car in sight.

Cheers

Paul

Paul McNulty

 

[Martiny10]

Sounds like a fan problem to m, is the radiator fan working?

It should cut in at high temperatures, if not try reseating the connections going into the fan.



Fix It Again Tony!
Would swap for X19, Montecarlo Spider or GT.i.e in average/poor condition! Scottish based would be nice.

 

[kevin wilkes]

sounds like your fan switch is broken,its mounted on base of your radiator,drain your radiator and replace switch,DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN THE NEW SWITCH IN PLASTIC RADIATOR HOUSING.ps: if you have a Haynes manual it will tell you how to test fan switch.Kev Birmingham UK.

 

[Wiltshire Ozzy]

Definately sounds like an airlock, run the engine from cold, and leave the cap off the water expansion tank, on the right hand side you will see a large hose, keep squeezing it whilst the engine warms up, and keep an eye on the water level in the expansion tank, top it up as needed, should do the trick, just dont go forgetting to put the cap back on!