Carina E Overheating

[shutupandshave]

My 96 Carina E CD has been overheating for a while now.

Sometimes it goes weeks without needing to be refilled, and sometimes I need to refill it both TO and FROM work.

The temperature gauge shoots right up, however if I ***** the car it sometimes returns back to normal for a while. As time goes on, jerking the car works less and less (as there is less water in there).

When the temp gauge goes right up I see steam coming from the expansion tank, so I know the gauge is right. Also the water IS disappearing.

I am wondering if anyone has any ideas.

I took my car to a local garage (that I have used a lot) and they couldn't find anything wrong, however they replaced the thermostat.

Perhaps he accidentally didn't replace the thermostat correctly (used the old one by mistake). Perhaps the radiator is partially blocked. The top of the radiator is certainly hot.

Does anyone know if the rad pipe coming from the TOP of the radiator flows into or out from the engine?

Thanks

[JNR]

can you here any rattles coming from the drivebelt area might be your water pump if it is

[shutupandshave]

Thx for the reply JNR, however I think I mis-diagnosed the problem.

After having a thorough look under the car it seems there is a steady drip drip (about 40-60 per second) coming from behind the engine. It's directly in the centre, about 6 inches behind the line of the bonnet.

The water drips under all conditions I have tried so far.

1) cold blower

2) warm blower

3) cold air-conditioning

Also the water that drips out is ALWAYS cold.

Could this be a leak in the heater matrix hose, and if so - why is it cold if the water is coming from the engine!?

[gazza1286]

When the engine is cold the thermostat is closed - (obviously) the water pump circulates continuously and as the water in the engine block heats up the thermostat begins to open. The coolant/water then begins to circulate through the radiator - Hot water from engine - through upper radiator hose - through the radiator, cooling down because of the air flow - then back to the cylinder block via the lower hose.

Over heating (without loss of coolant) is normally due to a faulty themostat or more rarely, a blockage.

If the thermosat - the lower hose back to the engine never gets hot (as there is no flow)

A blockage will give high than normal temps but can be identified by disconnecting the hoses(and thermostat) on the radiator and running a hose first through the radiator then the engine block.

If you are overheating (with loss of water/coolant) you have one of two faults.

1. cylinder head gasket failure. This means that the water which normally runs through channels within the cylinder head and cylinder block is getting into the ignition chamber and being expelled out of the system via the exhaust system.

Sometimes you may see the water getting into the oil (level will be higher than normal and if you take the oil filler cap off you may notice that the oil is watery or steamy.

Sometimes the water can escape out of the block in a leak from the failed gasket.

2. You may simply have a leak in one of the hoses!!

Your description of the leak? Is the water coming from between the radiator and the engine or between the engine and the bulkhead?

[Wombleman]

The symptoms you describe are almost idenical to my 96 Carina CD (see separate thread). Currently I think it's the water pump leaking...

How few is you journey before refills? I sometimes get 250+ miles before a top up sometimes only 60 miles (cold weather makes it worse).

[GT4 BOOSTER]

when its low on coolant it will always overheat as there is not enough fluid to cool the engine. if its ok when full the head gasket is fine for now but soon wont be if you dont stop the water leak .when the needle is reading half way and the blowers are hot your thermostst is working fine.if the needle is half way and blows cold then you have a fault with the heater matrix

[Nix]

Had the same problem. Took an age to find it!

There is a "blow hole" in the bottom of the water pump, designed to blow in case of major pressure build up.

As the seals wear, water starts to leak through this hole. It gets steadily worse until it gets to the point (after 6 months for me) where it will run out without the engine running.

Change the water pump for 100% fix.