Over heating in saxo

[adrian-ni]

Well as the title says, Shes over heating... shes a 1.1 1999

Only has to be on for about 10mins tops for the light to come on
Water boils, as in when lid is taken off it shoots up
The thermostat gets warm but the pipe to the radiator doesnt?
Radiator stays free cold
No warm in coming in on the air con at all

Just want to know if anyone can help me please. I dont want to scrap the wee car as its in perfect nick inside and not too bad outside. People saying its the head gasket then other people saying its a air lock? I dont have a baldys about cars to be honest lol.

cheers for ur time folks

[baker556]

Do a sniffer test at a garage to rule out HG failure however to me it sounds like an air lock.

The system needs to be bled properly for it to work follow the guides on here and also replace the thermostat for good measure.

If its HG look for gunk/creamy mayo under oil cap and bluey smoke out of exhaust. If there isn't any you have a good chance its either airlock or new thermostat.

Do not drive if overheating as this will cause the HG to fail.

Good luck

[VECTRASRI]

I had a similar problem recently & I had a crack in the radiator. Are you loosing coolant?

[adrian-ni]

Not loosing any coolant and no gunk or blue smoke at all. I dont drive it. i was given it a few months back almost past my test and want to get it ready for mot. morealess perfect everywhere else bar abit of welding at the arch and this over heating problem but if its the head gasket ill just scrap it.

[Cam]

Sounds like your thermostat might be stuck shut..

[Karlb1]

If the radiator isn't getting warm and the pipe to the thermostat housing is, then i'd say your thermostat is stuck like Cam said.

Other than that it could be an airlock, but to be fair if you're going to change the thermostat then you'll be bleading the coolant again anyways, so i'd just change the thermostat and see if that helps at all, just make sure the air is all burped out properly after.

[Richardabarnes]

Last 2 posts are right, take your thermostat out, boil a pint of water and submerge your thermostat in, if the thermostat is working, you should see it open up after a couple minutes

[Ben_SaxoForte]

Last 2 posts are right, take your thermostat out, boil a pint of water and submerge your thermostat in, if the thermostat is working, you should see it open up after a couple minutes

Does this actually work? its just that the thermostat on a saxo needs the spring to be depressed to let the water through so I don't see how boiling water depresses the spring is it not the pressure in the coolant system that opens it?

[Gandi699]

No its the heat of the water that does it. Keeping it under pressure is needed to stop boiling a by product of using water in the cooling system, some coolants now dont need water to be mixed in and thusly dont require pressurisation of the cooling system meaning you can open the rad cap when hot!

[jasonmayall]

Sounds like the thermostat is stuck shut.
Try swapping them, giving the system a good clean and refill / bleed - see how you get on.

[adrian-ni]

Thanks fir the help folks, anyone got a link as in how to change the thermostat and bleed it? Sorry am a complete novice

[adrian-ni]

Anyone? Going to work at it tomorrow morning.