Hi i'm trying to sell a friends car which left the countryn and agreed to meet the seller but as i did the temperature on the dash went above normal operating temp and rather high.

The car seemed to be running strong before this and seemed ok after though i didnt drive it after this. There was also steam coming from the expansion bottle for the radiator and didnt seem to have much coolant in the radiator.

I filled up and then some water did rush through again, though i've tried to read up on this for being a possible head gasket leak i've read mixed things on this so would wonder if it could be a stuck thermostat problem, water cooling problem as i've checked the oil and oil cap and there doesnt seem to be any creamy substance in which you get from the oil and water mixing.

Any other good ways to know it has a headgasket failure or something else?

Car is based in Woking so if anyone is experienced enough and has the time to check this for me i wouldn't mind paying for some expert diagnosis.

Don't know if it makes any difference but the car is a EG6 VTI MY93

Thanks

 

take the cap of the radiator and fill up radiator up to the top if theres no cap on the radiator fill up to the max mark on the expansion tank when cold leave the cap or caps off for now on the radiator as well make sure your cars heater inside the car is switched to hot air.
have a feel on the large water pipes attached to your radiator squeeze them and see if they feel empty or if your squeezing water keep squeezing to get rid of air bubbles should leave the radiator at where you have left the cap off.

if the water pipes are empty disconnect the top pipe attached to the radiaitor and pour water down the pipe
recconect the said pipe.

start the car watch the exhaust and look for white smoke like mist or steam like...... normally hondas are watery smokey on start up but it should be obvious if its the cylinder head gasket...it could be the thermostat like you said they are cheap to replace.

oince filled up replace caps and just keep an eye on the the coolant bottle once the car has cooled see if it has used any water.

 

Sounds very similar to when head gasket went in my astra ('00 1.6sxi). Id get it checked out - do you not have AA policy (per driver) you can call out to at least get an idea?

If it is head gasket you do not want to drive it as I did that thinking it was just low coolant and it destroyed the cylinder head which was big bill to replace.

Simon