Car Temp Gauge Maxing out

[mbeylis]

Hi,

Okay so was driving down Corlette Drive this morning in bumber to bumber traffic which was hardly moving and my temp gauge on my car started to climb until it was maxed out in the red and I could hear water boiling

Pulled over for a bit and when I started the car again the temp gauge had dropped to half but as soon as I started driving again it shot up to max again

So basically free wheeled down corlette with the car off ( and no foot break other which was interesting to say the least) to the BP Garage

Had a look at the water resevior and it was full up. Drove the car to my office parking just around the corner and it show straight back up to max

Not sure what to do now. Thinking of leaving the car until close of business and see what happens when I go home this afternoon

Maybe something wrong with the Thermostat?

Mark

 

[Sinbad]

Radiator fans not working (motor, fuse or thermoswitch)
Water pump failed
Radiator blocked

What car is it?

 

[mbeylis]

Radiator fans not working (motor, fuse or thermoswitch)
Water pump failed
Radiator blocked

What car is it?

Hyundai i20

So waiting for it to cool down and driving it this afternoon not a good idea?

 

[Sinbad]

Nope. Unfortunately you may have already caused damage I assume it's still under warranty etc?

 

[Ryanbighead]

More than likely a faulty thermostat.

Drive it gently to a mech. It cant be driven like that.

 

[spiderz]

If it started boiling it means it's already low on water or the pressure is low (leaking somewhere and loosing water).
Once cold fill with water. Start and let it idle till it's warm. If it overheats, you have a problem.
If the fan comes one once the car is hot, it should be fine.

 

[Sinbad]

More than likely a faulty thermostat.

Drive it gently to a mech. It cant be driven like that.

The thermostat is supposed to fail open - it's a failsafe measure. I wouldn't expect that to be the issue.

Was the coolant drained/replaced recently? It could be an airlock.

 

[mbeylis]

Well have organized for them to come tow the car to the dealership. Hoping whatever is wrong is covered by Warranty

When I went down to my car now I saw that the Water Resevoir is now totally empty. Hoping is just a broken pipe or something

Car had its 45 000 KM servive couple months back, its on 55 000KM now

 

[burn]

So waiting for it to cool down and driving it this afternoon not a good idea?

More than likely a faulty thermostat.

Drive it gently to a mech. It cant be driven like that.

I had a similar problem. I tried to drive "gently" home and ended up doing lots of damage, including cracking the cylinder head. Not cheap to fix.

Even if it is just a faulty sensor, don't take the risk.

 

[mbeylis]

I had a similar problem. I tried to drive "gently" home and ended up doing lots of damage, including cracking the cylinder head. Not cheap to fix.

Even if it is just a faulty sensor, don't take the risk.

Definately not going to drive it. I stopped at garage as soon as I realized there was a problem. Checked the water and it was fine so just parked my car at the office which is just around corner from garage. Now since checking water again and seeing it empty I aint going to even start it. Tow trucks enroute

 

[Ockie]

Is the fan plugged in? hehe. When I had the radiator on my card replaced (had a bit of a smash), the next day the car overheated. Drove it back to the guy that fixed it. Just drove very gently with my climate fan and heater on full (apparenty this helps to drain some heat away from the engine). He had a look...and it turns out they forgot to plug the fan. Maybe yours came loose or something?

 

[Gnome]

Once a engine has overheated, it is spoiled.

They'll do things like replace this and that, but everything takes damage. The bearings, the cylinders, the pistons, the cylinder head. Literally every component. It is never the same again.

Best to avoid letting a car overheat.

If they want to "fix" the engine you need to give them as much grief as possible and make sure the car is 100% when you get it back.

 

[Ockie]

Once a engine has overheated, it is spoiled.

They'll do things like replace this and that, but everything takes damage. The bearings, the cylinders, the pistons, the cylinder head. Literally every component. It is never the same again.

Best to avoid letting a car overheat.

If they want to "fix" the engine you need to give them as much grief as possible and make sure the car is 100% when you get it back.

My engine have not had any problems since it overheated. Then again it he is pretty old and very much run in. Maybe it is a new engine thing with all the latest tech that is more not as resistant

 

[Gnome]

My engine have not had any problems since it overheated. Then again it he is pretty old and very much run in. Maybe it is a new engine thing with all the latest tech that is more not as resistant

Newer engines run at higher compression which is a large part of the reason they generally won't survive a single overheating. Opel, VW, BMW are just a few brands I can name that I've seen overheated and were just terrible after the agents "repaired" the damage.

But it is highly dependant on both the engine and the circumstances.

Which car is it if I may ask?

 

[xrapidx]

My Hilux survives anything! Including the trip home with a blown radiator in traffic.

 

[Claymore]

The thermostat is supposed to fail open - it's a failsafe measure. I wouldn't expect that to be the issue.

LOL. I wish that were the case, but it isn't. Some fail open, some fail closed.

 

[Claymore]

Once a engine has overheated, it is spoiled.

They'll do things like replace this and that, but everything takes damage. The bearings, the cylinders, the pistons, the cylinder head. Literally every component. It is never the same again.

Best to avoid letting a car overheat.

Not entirely true. There are degrees of overheating. For example, the engines themselves can handle heat higher than the coolant's boiling temperature, but too long, and the oil breaks down and friction increases to the point that damage could occur. Often more vulnerable areas will fail first - like the head gasket will blow.

I suspect most engines can handle a short while in the red zone (mine certainly has).

 

[Gnome]

It isn't that simple. Instead of explaining myself, I'm quoting:

Too much heat in an engine can cause serious problems because heat causes metal to expand. The hotter the engine gets, the tighter clearances become until there are no more clearances left. Overheating can cause valve stems to gall and stick, and pistons to scuff and seize. So if you see either of these conditions when you tear the engine down, it is a pretty good clue that overheating caused the engine to fail.

Excessive heat can also cause cylinder heads to swell, warp and/or crack. ...

Aluminum heads are especially vulnerable to warpage and cracking because aluminum has a much higher coefficient of thermal expansion than cast iron. Consequently, when a bimetal engine with an aluminum head gets too hot, the head tends to swell up in the middle, causing it to warp and blow the head gasket. If the engine has an overhead cam, the resulting misalignment in the cam bores created by the warpage can gall or seize the cam bearings, or even break the cam. Anytime you encounter a warped or cracked aluminum head, or an OHC head with a seized cam, chances are the damage was caused by overheating.

In some engines where the center exhaust ports are siamesed together, hot spots can develop in the head between the exhaust ports causing the head to swell so much it crushes the head gasket resulting in a blown head gasket. Replacing the head gasket may temporarily solve the compression problem, but unless the underlying cause of the elevated exhaust temperature is diagnosed and corrected, the replacement gasket may eventually suffer the same fate. Some aftermarket gasket manufacturers have gone so far as to develop special reinforced replacement gaskets for engine applications that have a history of crushing gaskets.
...
Oil is the primary means by which the rod and main bearings are cooled, as well as the pistons. So any reduction in oil flow may cause these parts to run hot, gall and seize.

Source: http://www.aa1car.com/library/us697.htm

It isn't as simple as: lubrication broke down for a little while. Overheating is seriously bad for an engine, hence the reason your car manual will have little red blocks and exclamation marks about immediately turning it off if it goes into the red.

More modern engines are almost always made of aluminium (i20 is an example) and almost all cars on the road today have aluminium overhead cams, they take overheating especially badly.

 

[Claymore]

It isn't that simple. Instead of explaining myself, I'm quoting:



Source: http://www.aa1car.com/library/us697.htm

It isn't as simple as: lubrication broke down for a little while. Overheating is seriously bad for an engine, hence the reason your car manual will have little red blocks and exclamation marks about immediately turning it off if it goes into the red.

More modern engines are almost always made of aluminium (i20 is an example) and almost all cars on the road today have aluminium overhead cams, they take overheating especially badly.

No-one said it was simple. That';s why there's no guarantee that overheating will cause damage. Overheating at certain temperatures and for certain periods will, but there are plenty of variables there.

 

[Gnome]

No-one said it was simple. That';s why there's no guarantee that overheating will cause damage. Overheating at certain temperatures and for certain periods will, but there are plenty of variables there.

From what I've read, overheating always causes damage. Just because it doesn't break down doesn't mean damage wasn't done but I'm not sure why I am trying to convince you... So nvm.