Engine Overheating!
 

Hi! I have a Y Reg Saxo 1.1. The radiator has had a very small drip for some time now, I've always made sure its been sufficeintly topped up though with no problems at all. The other day while driving the engine temp light flicked on...I shut down the car and the fan was going rapid for maybe five minutes (extremely loud). Radiator resevoir was still full but the radiator and pipes were stone cold and the blowers are just blowing cold air aswell. A friend "flushed the system" and checked the thermostat, he suggested it's the water pump? I had a brief word with a mechanic and he suggests it's the head gasket?

Any advice would be appreciated before I start throwing money at it!
Cheers.

are you sure it's been flushed correctly sounds like an air lock in the system?

Thanks for the response. Im a complete novice but from what i saw him doing he flushed water through the system with a hose? Another thing...after filling it back up with coolant the levels didn't drop at all when the engine was idle. It took maybe a couple of litres in.

did he open the bleed nipples when adding to the system, if he didn't i'm 99.9% you'll have an air lock

No i know he didn't do that! I'll try to do that first thing. Is there a guide anywhere?

not sure if you have a black top or a silver top engine. A black top there is one on the radiator, one on the thermostat housing and then one on some piping in the rear right hand corner of the engine bay. But if you aint 100% confident get a haynes manual, i got one for my saxo and it's saved me a few bob!

the right hand corner one has what looks like a tyre dust cap on it. unfortunately i can't find any photo's but i know someone has taken pics of these on here you'll have to search.

the procedure is easy though:

1) open all bleed nipples
2) get an old milk bottle or something to add as a header and place onto the radiator refill point.
3) run the engine
4) add coolant
5) as soon as you see fluid flowing out the first bleed nipple close it (the tyre dust cap looking one)
6) next you'll see fluid flow from the thermostat nipple once again close it when the fluid is literally pouring out
7) finally the last one is at the top right hand corner of the radiator (by the top hose) again once fluid pours from here close it.
8) continue refilling until your within the max/min levels on the radiator refill point.
9) cap on done