Reply With QuoteHave you checked the thermostat? That would be my next checkpoint after bleeding it.
Hi all,
The other day my cousin called me to say that she had a problem with her car over heating. So I went and looked and first of all found that the oil was, well there's no other way to put it than empty. So I flushed it (and got a LOT of sludge out and replaced the oil and filter) this was a long shot but it didn't sort the problem but needed doing anyway (which in the end ended up me doing a whole service as the car had never had one in the 5 years she's owned it!). So moving onto the problem I checked to see how bad it was overheating and sure enough after about 15 min it was boiling yet the blowers were coming out cold. Because of this I did the obvious thing and bled the system. This appeared to fix it. I checked it, ran it for an hour no overheating, blowers coming out hot. So I called it a day, job done!
The next day I got a call, "the blowers were coming out hot for a few minutes but now they've gone cold and it is over heating again!" So tomorrow I'm going back to try and sort the problem.
Other than bleeding it again I can only assume its one if two things: an intermittent thermostat or the head gasket is going. Now hopefully it's the thermostat but was wandering what you all think.
When I changed the oil there was no sign of a leaky head gasket nor in the oil breather pipe. Also she has said the head gasket was done about a year ago.
Any help is much appreciated and just so I can check as I'm not used to working on a punto, I'm a Vauxhall man myself, how do I go about removing the thermostat if it is that.
Ideally if anyone knows what the problem is a couple of pictures to help explain would be a massive help!
And just for reference it is a 2002 1.2 active.
Thanks!
Have you checked the thermostat? That would be my next checkpoint after bleeding it.
I'm struggling to locate it in the state the engine is in. I don't normally do to much as I use my aa cover normally so it only costs £35 for most repairs. So a bit of help on how to locate and remove the thermostat would be great
The thermostat on that 1.2 engine us beneath the coil packs on the gearbox side of the engine (RHS) as you look from the front of the car.
Held on by two bolts with approx a 1.5" hose protruding.
Ok so I changed the thermostat and bled the system again. (The thermostat was only £12 so thought at that price it can't hurt to change it) and its solved the overheating issue but now the heating is acting a bit strange.
Basically. The car starts to heat up, the blowers are hot. The temperature reaches the mid point of the gauge, the blowers are cold. After around 2 minutes the gauge drops to around a quarter and the blowers are hot again. It reaches the mid point and the blowers are cold again. It does this a few times before seeming to sort itself. Unfortunately I'm not insured to drive it and as my cousin has been working every day so using her moms car she hasn't had chance to try it so I'm just going to hope that a decent drive will sort it out itself. But to be honest slightly dodgy blowers aren't the end of the world as long as the car isn't overheating but if anyone has any ideas on what to do it'd be a massive help.
Thanks
Sounds like an airlock mate. I've had this issue with my mk1 so many times. In the end had to bleed the rad with the bleed nipple located at the top left of the rad, took it off and a huge load of air came out.
a wavering temperature in terms of heat coming out of the blowers points to a thermostat thats opening OK from cold but closing back up/opening randomly during the driving thus starving the heater matrix of hot water and the engine block of cooled water as a closed stat will stop the water going through the radiator.
givem how cheap they are i would renew the stat.
also check your rad cap. a loss of pressure and boiling coolant can be caused by a dodgy cap.
Last edited by clarkster; 10th January 2013 at 12:27.
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