2 Hot For Me?

[Strikevts]

Hey all right here's the problem, car keeps over heating runing the fan all the time and the oil pressure seems higher. Now all i do is put water in the rad and oil in the engine. Do i need to put coolent in my rad if so how much?? Any ideas would be great.

[VTS_16v_Boy]

Ok, first check for leaks in the cooling system.

If there are none great, if there are replace the damaged section.

Check that you have no air locks in the system, normally a lack of heat from the heater is a sign of this. Run the engine till normal temp is showing then carefully remove the cap and over fill the system with water. Lightly blip the throttle repeat this a number of times, the water level should rise and fall.

Then allow the car to cool off with the engine off, allow the system to find its own level then see what the temp says on a run.

If this solves the problem then it was an air lock if not, try changing the theremostate. Under £12 from a main dealer.

Again if still the engine runs warm then contact a garage to do a die test, which tests for CO2 ie exhaust gases in the coolant system which could show up a Head Gasket failure.

Try the first two before going to have the die test as your feel abit silly if it just turns out to be a damaged pipe ;)

[Ryan]

Yes Coolant Is Needed!

[VTS_16v_Boy]

Roughtly somewhere between 60% Water 40% Coolant

No need to be spot on as long as there is a good amount of coolant in there should be fine. Any car shop should stock Anti Freeze / Summer Coolant.

[KamRacing]

Hey all right here's the problem, car keeps over heating runing the fan all the time and the oil pressure seems higher. Now all i do is put water in the rad and oil in the engine. Do i need to put coolent in my rad if so how much?? Any ideas would be great.

does this mean that you are loosing both coolant and oil?

[Strikevts]

no i cant see any signs of water or oil coming out my engine, so maybe try coolent first.

[KamRacing]

Try a compression test to check the headgasket. You can get a tester for around a tenner.

[Strikevts]

Right a lil update, checked rad water level and i couldnt see any water which is wierd? Any way i filled up with water and coolent and left engine running to normal running temp. Now i checked this and it never went over half way on heat level which i am happy about as befor it would keep going up. At the mo letting to engine cool down to check water levels then i will go for a spin and see how my old girl is.

[VTS_16v_Boy]

Let the engine warm up before driving off, see what happens before going anywhere first. The system will dump some of the excess water not needed through the rad cap via pressure. If a airlock is the problem and you have sorted it - dont forget to top the water up with coolant slowly over a few trips as to allow the two to mix.


Both the compression test and the dye/die (whatever) test is worth having done. They are cheap, quick tests that could point to a expensive problem or steer you in the correct direction of another item.

[Strikevts]

i have no idea how u use a compression test or the dye test??

[Ste]

When youve topped up, unscrew the bleed valve and leave it whilst the engine is runing until a steady flow of water is coming out and not bubbling air/water...


This should guarantee no air is in.

[Strikevts]

After filling my rad up with water and coolent my car holds half way on the temp gauge which is good. Will see how i go over next few days. Thank you guys for ur input :)

[VTS_16v_Boy]

Like I said, allow the car to find its own level. Dont be suprised to see a puddle of water under the car and some hisssssssing when you turn the engine off as its just the cap releasing the un-need water under pressure.

Both tests Dye and Compression have to be done by a garage to be honest but see how you go for now, might be worth budgeting for a theromostate just to be on the safe side :y: