Corsa problem - overheating

antwilson

Hi, got back from tescos about 2 hours ago.
on way there (20-25 min's?) My temp gauge shot to halfway within 2/3 minutes of cold start (usually around 10-15 mins. ) Got all way there, and no heat coming from heaters. Got out of car at tescos, fan was making quite a noise!
Came back out, had cooled all way down, put petrol in, on way home, again 2-3 mins later shot straight up. Got round corner went up even more 90/95oC, 2 mins later 100, went all way upto red line!!!
Pulled over and went straight down to normal halfway 90oC line. Set off again, went up to 100, stayed around 95 most of way home, til round corner from home shot up to red line again and i had to pull over!

Anyone any ideas? Checked oil thats OK, cant check water, cant see and dont want my face burning by steam so gonna wait til tomorrow morning when I can see better and take cap off!
Shouldnt be empty cos it wouldnt get me there in first place!!!
Car is relatively new (53 plate corsa) and ive had it around 2/3 months (has a 12 month warranty - after i complained about being given a 3 month one!)

tomstickland

Could be loads of things. Engines run hot if they have a problem with fuelling or timing.
You can check coolant quite easily, even if the engine is warm. Turn the cap until it breaks the seal and then let it vent any pressure for 5-10 minutes. Then carefully remove.

cc25

Sounds like the engine overheated because coolant has been lost, probably due to one of the following:-

1) External leak in cooling system (leaking rubber hose, loose clip, damaged radiator, leaking heater matrix) - most likely to be one of these.

2) Internal leak (head gasket failure, crack in cylinder head or engine block) - much less likely, but more expensive.

Best to get the cause of the overheating seen to asap, as a badly overheating engine can suffer further damage, which could be more expensive. You can replace the lost coolant, but I would only drive the car short distances, and carry a bottle of water. Of course, you should use the approved antifreeze for your car, but water is OK as a temporary measure, until the problem is sorted.

Are you in the AA/RAC? They will come out, fix the problem, or take the car to a garage if they can't fix it.

Cumbrian_Male

Also consider a seized thermostat if coolant is present.

Can you get heat through the vents using the heater fan?

reheat

Most likely thing normally would be thermostat, but that couldn't cause the engine to heat up quicker than normal - it only senses the temperature. In fact I'm really struggling to imagine what can cause an engine to heat up so quickly. Maybe you have a coolant leak, but even an engine drained of coolant takes a while to heat up ... maybe today's lightweight alloy engines can heat up quicker "than in my day". The other possibility is a faulty temperature sensor ... registering a hotter temperature than really is. Coolant leak or faulty sensor could both tie in with no heat from the heater.

antwilson

Thanks for everyones answers!

checkd it today and the coolant is dry as a desert!!!!

Considering ringing the manufacturers warranty breakdown service, and getting them to sort it.

antwilson

Phoned the breakdown last night, they wouldnt take it in as they said it needs parts!
had it towed away this morning and the bloke towing it said there was a strange rattling on the engine! Mentioned this to them.

Phoned them and its a cracked water pump, but they cant check the engine problem until this is sorted as the lack of water could make it worse!

Hope its all covered by warranty??!!

Quarket

I thought I would post about the overheating problem and solution I had with my wife's Corsa 1.4 Breeze (R-Registration) in case it helps anyone.

About 6 months ago during the cold weather, the needle on the temperature gauge would hardly move off the bottom even when driving around for half an hour. A friend of mine replaced the temperature sender and this fixed the problem. Then 2 weeks ago, I was driving my wifes car at 60 mph along an A road and I noticed that the gauge was up just below the red line and when I asked my wife about this, she said that she had noticed it a couple of days earlier. I am not trying to be sexist here ladies, but if you spot anything like this and you aren't sure what action to take, please tell your husband/boyfriend/mechanic at the earliest opportunity.

I got the car home and let it run until the needle just touched the red and worryingly, the fan didn't start. After I let it cool down, I proved it wasn't a fan fault by shorting the plug from the fan switch in the bottom of the radiator which immediately brought the fan on even with the engine cold. The next thing to try was the thermostat because if that was stuck shut or the radiator was blocked then the radiator woudln't get hot enough to turn the fan on so the symptoms seemed to fit. A mate of mine did the thermostat with no effect and he noticed that despite what the gauge said, the engine was not as hot as it should have been, so he let the engine idle until it became really hot with the needle right into the red. Then the fan cut in and brought the temperature down so that the needle was just about into the red. So it appeared to be a gauge problem.

After talking to numerous "experts" including Vauxhall mechanics and autoelectricians, all sorts of suggestions were made about faulty voltage regulators and gauges etc. Fortunately, this mate of mine had another temperature sender similar to the one that was replaced 6 months ago and when he put that in, it cured the problem. It shows that you can't just believe that because a part has recently been replaced, it is still functional. The part that was replaced wasn't a genuine Vauxhall part, but a cheaper generic brand that was "compatible", so you could argue that it was my fault for not going to the dealers for the proper part, but it did work OK for 6 months before breaking.

The more I think about it now, the more obvious it appears to me that it was the temperature sender. The take home message is don't go looking for complicated problems and solutions that experts suggest. Sometimes it is the simplest thing which can break down more frequently than expected.

I hope this helps someone,

Quarket.