Random overheating
 

Last few days ive noticed as im driving to work, a slow drive too, not hard what so ever my tempreture gauge suddenly goes up to red hot, then within a min or so, drops to half way again. If i put my foot down, the temp comes down a little bit quicker, and on idle somtimes it jumps up to hot too, also dropping again not so long after going up rapidly...


Any ideas what's going on anyone?

Appreciated it advance!
thanks
Jay

Check you coolant level, may need a top up.

How is your heater. If you are getting your heater blowing cooler or cold when on high it could an airlock or some blockage of crap in the coolant system. Air locks usually happen just after refilling or topping up.

Are you loosing any water at all ?

It could be a faulty temp sender of course.

You shouldnt really put your foot down as you could possibly damage your head gasket in the worst case. Id certainly get it looked at before driving any more.

Funny you should say that, My heating lately has also been slow, takes -ages- to warm up.

So what do you thinks best to do?

Thanks btw

j

it sounds like a dodgy temp sender. You may as well get a new one as their less than a fiver, so worth a try. As with all problems of this nature it's usually a case of trial and error

All the best

sorry replied before seeing your last reply. As your heater is taking a long time to heat up i would say it's your thermostat not opening fully soon enough again these are cheep and worth replacing to avoid serious overheating.

heh, no worries mate.

Thanks a lot for the help. I'll get it looked at asap, but am i ok for work driving slow untill so?

J

That is up to you. Does the car "boil over" ie chuck any water from the system when it gets hot? Does it only happen in traffic? or when moving slowly? if so Have you checked that your cooling fans behind the rad are still working? To check the fans find the sensor in the cooling system unplug the wire and join them with a bit of wire with stripped ends the fan should then come on. or you could just let it sit at idle with the bonnet up the fan should come on when the temp reaches 2/3 or 3/4 of the gauge but before the red it is somtimes the simplest of things that we just don't think about