Over heating

[p8ence]

Hi my VS seems to be over heating if sitting in traffic, the temp rises slowly and starts over heating... What do I need to look out for to find out why it is doing this? my fear is a blown head gasket but not sure on what they symtoms would be for that?


Please advise...
Daz

[Brendo169]

whoah dont immmediately think head gasket!

have you checked the basic things like coolant level and oil level first? what colour is your coolant...any signs of oil in the coolant?

hows your radiator...does it leak at all?


thermostat?

[Brendo169]

symptoms of a blown head gasket could be milky looking coolant (oil in the coolant) as well as a white smoke from the exhaust

[hako]

Welcome to the forum. As you're new to the forum, I'll presume you've only recently bought your VS. Temp gauge readings in Commodores are a bit different to most other cars - it is normal for the gauge to sit at 1/3 to 1/2 whilst driving normally, however once you stop or slow to a crawl you have no airflow thru the radiator - this causes the engine to heat up till the gauge reaches approx 3/4 when the electric radiator fan will turn on and the temp should not rise any further and then start to fall back to about 1/2 when the fan will turn off. So don't panic....it's all probably normal.
And by the way, turning the aircon on will automatically turn the radiator fan on irrespective of what the tem gauge is reading.

[Whales]

Same thing happened to me but overheated real bad, found out it was the new thermostat that I put in that was faulty...for the second time. Never buyin tridon thermos again... If they dont come broken they break in like 2 months for me so I just left it out and runs on 1/5 all the time. Only thing is that u dont have a heater lol

[p8ence]

Hi, yes I am new, came from Lancer Evo to the commodore now so it is very different and thanks for the welcome and advice... I will have a look this weekend but I think from memory when I checked it wen I brought it, it never had and coolant so will probably definately flush this weekend and replace...

[FstStig]

symptoms of a blown head gasket could be milky looking coolant (oil in the coolant)

WTF.... You mean milky looking Oil.... If you have oil in your coolant then its most likely a inlet manifold gasket gone not a head gasket. There are a lot more things to look out for then just the milky oil, does the car run rough or low on compression can indicate a blown head gasket. When you stop the car is the water in the over flow or in the radiator boiling, then you know its Over Heating. Just because a gauge is saying its running hot doesn't mean Its Over Heating.... Knowledge and Self Inspection is the best way of knowing what is exactly wrong.

[nathanVY]

As long as there's no oil in coolant (and vice versa) then just replace everything lol. Full bleed, new radiator (quality one), new cts ($15), new thermostat ($10) and a thorough flush out and reverse flush of the block. Would be a good idea to do your heater tap as well while the coolants dropped The way I see it there's no point stuffing around wasting your time when (unless you have recently replaced it) every component in the system is old and could have failed / be failing. Better off replacing it all, then you know where it's at.

Just check that your thermo fans coming too, if you start the car and put your a/c on, the fans you should come on straight away full blast.
No a/c the car will heat up to about 1/2 then the fan should kick in and cool it down to 1/4.

3/4 is way to hot IMO. After replacing cooling systems in both my commodores (VR & VS) the needles never really gone over 1/2, and usually sits on or below 1/4. (Except for one freak 47 degree day the VR got to 3/4 sitting in peak traffic lol)

Good luck!

[Brendo169]

WTF.... You mean milky looking Oil.... If you have oil in your coolant then its most likely a inlet manifold gasket gone not a head gasket. There are a lot more things to look out for then just the milky oil, does the car run rough or low on compression can indicate a blown head gasket. When you stop the car is the water in the over flow or in the radiator boiling, then you know its Over Heating. Just because a gauge is saying its running hot doesn't mean Its Over Heating.... Knowledge and Self Inspection is the best way of knowing what is exactly wrong.

No i did mean milky looking coolant. The oil and coolant will mix in the head gasket leak, causing the milkyness. Also you may have milky looking oil as youve suggested.