Coolants boiled!!!

[Wilson]

I had only driven 4 miles from my house when I noticed the oil gauge was well into the red!! I stopped as soon as I could and steam had started coming from the bonnet just before I turned off the engine. When I looked in the coolant bottle it was completely dry (probably because most of it was all over the road).

So anyway my mates dad came with some water and we topped it up and I got quite close to home before the gauge got to red again.

Any suggestions as to what went wrong and what I should do now??

*EDIT* Car just went over 70 000 miles 2 days ago!

And this thread should have probably went here:
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=77
too late now..

 

[Dolly_Gti]

First id find the leak.. then when thats fixed you need to add and bleed the cooling system. if you dont bleed it air locks will cause it to overheat.

 

[Fl@pper]

considering you drove 4 miles i'd say could be any of the following

blocked rad

air lock

thermostat stuck

water pump

or even belt gone but then alternator light would show

refill it with the heater turned to hot and keep an eye on it

 

[m0rk]

probably a stuch thermostat, followed by you not noticing the coolant temp level was way high, followed by a cracked coolant tank

remove the thermostat/replace & replace the coolant tank if its cracked

 

[__B3NNY__]

Could be lots of things as mentioned above. I had a simlar issue on my mk2 valver turned out id split the bottom rad hose going over some rough ground.


David.

 

[Wilson]

probably a stuch thermostat, followed by you not noticing the coolant temp level was way high, followed by a cracked coolant tank

remove the thermostat/replace & replace the coolant tank if its cracked

Think this was the problem.

I got a new thermo today which is ever so slightly different looking to the old one but still the same size. Taking out the old one I sheared the head off one of the nuts holding the pipe with the thermo in place!! So with new thermo in I've had to clamp the pipe in place, looks a bit rough but at least it holds!

After that I just put plain water in and waited a while with the engine on and there doesn't seem to be any leaks. Then went for a 3 mile run in the car and I was watching the temp gauge the whole time. The gauge went very slowly up to quarter way (usually at half way after that amount of time) it then fell back down quite a bit, then went back up to quarter way again?!? I was doing more than 3000 revs in each gear aswell. Is that normal? And do I REALLY need G12 coolant before I can drive my car properly like the insruct manual says?

Thanks for all your help guys! It really does help to get advice from people who know what their talking about.

 

[Dolly_Gti]

youve clamped the thermostat where it should be bolted.. how and why, surely its going to leak, you need a thread removing kit, where u drill a hole in the thread, then screw the tool (L/H thread) in, when it goes solid in theory this will remove the old thread.

as for the temperature, it sounds like symptons of thermostat being stuck open, but as long as the one you fitted it correct and is damaged then it cant be that?... that leaves an airlock.. id suspect a water pump failure would just overheat again.

 

[Wilson]

youve clamped the thermostat where it should be bolted.. how and why, surely its going to leak, you need a thread removing kit, where u drill a hole in the thread, then screw the tool (L/H thread) in, when it goes solid in theory this will remove the old thread.

I was going to do that but my dad said it would be too difficult. I probably will eventually when I've got more time. For now I'll have to make do with the clamp because it doesn't seem to be leaking yet.

as for the temperature, it sounds like symptons of thermostat being stuck open, but as long as the one you fitted it correct and is damaged then it cant be that?... that leaves an airlock.. id suspect a water pump failure would just overheat again.

I'm going to make sure there is no air in the system when I refill the tank with proper coolant (when I get it today). Hopefully the car will then run smoothly, but I'm going to take water and a socket set with me in the car for a couple of days, just in case...

Again thanks for helping!!