Overheating Aw11

[Jimmydee]

Hi,

I'm new to this site having been an AW11 owner for only a few months.

Last week I decided to take my new addition to Edinburgh (lovely city) from my home town down on the South Coast.

It performed admirably getting us there but on the way back, the temperature gauge hit the red and we had to pull over on the M1.

The very nice man from the AA thought it may have been the head gasket but thought it was more likely something like the coolant fans not working.

Water had boiled out of the metal cap in the engine bay but the radiator fans had not engaged.

Having checked them the radiator fans work and having let the engine run for a while sat on the drive, the following happens:

1 - Having filled up the coolant expansion tank, nothing seemed to be feeding from it even though some water had boiled out of the system. Surely if the system needed water I should see the level in the expansion tank drop as it feeds through?

2 - The pipes in the engine bay get hot and water appears to seep through the metal water cap (the name for which escapes me) probably as it gets too hot.

3 - The temperature gauge on the dash board shows it is getting hotter - I didn't let it go all the way to the top. I switched the engine off when it reached half way.

4 - The radiator in the front however was still cold. No sign of warmth at all.

Has anyone experienced this before? And how do I fix it?

Also, when I saw the temperature gauge was on red, I put all the blowers on hot to buy myself a few extra minutes but it all came through cold until I stopped and turned the engine off. Then it was like an inferno in there!!!

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks!