overheating like mad

[Tiffvtr]

hi ppl,

i have a 1.6 vtr and its running like a dog at the mo, i was on the motorway the other day when i noticed that my temp lite came on so i immediatly pulled on to the hard shoulder but before i stopped there was a very loud bang and a puff of black smoke. i checked under the hood and to my horror the rad had exploded smileys/smiley19.gif . after putting a new rad on its still not running like it used to, it makes a funny ticking noise wen i hammer it and its still over heating every few miles, has anyone got any ideas wot it could be if so please let me know as i love my car and want it back to normal.

thanks

[Ratty]

ticking could be tappets or noisy injectors, when the new rad was fitted did you replace the thermostat? as it could have been that which caused the problem in the begining. If not replace that and rebleed and see how it goes, if still the same remove the thermostat and rebleed rad and see how that goes, if its still overheating your looking at something more major possibly, ie head gasket, or timing out etc. Does the car have enough oil in?

[AdamH]

when you replaced the radiator... did you bleed the system? and filled it up with a HEADER TANK??

if you dont use a header tank when filling up with water you trap air.... even if you try and bleed the system air will still be stuck in the heater matrix..

buy a propper header tank or take it to a garage...

you need this since the top hose is lower then the filler tank

[chrissyboy]

Head gasket is looking very likely. When it goes compression leaks into the cooling system and super-pressurises it. This usually forces coolant out via the radiator cap. Is it under a huge amount of pressure when you remove the cap and is the coolant horrible and brown? If so then almost certainly the head gasket.

[Tiffvtr]

thanks for your input guys. it was the head gasket it blew on me yesterday smileys/smiley19.gif gunna cost me £180 for it doing, i also told the garage to give the `car a once over to see if there arte anymore under lyiing problems with it.