Over Heating!! :(

[Miint-xx]

I recently baught a vt off a mate who had no problems with the car (so he tells me)... ive been driving it for about a week now and it seems fine until today!

it was fine driving for 45 mins then on the way home from my outing it flashing and beeped at me telling me it was hot... i pulled over checked the coolant and it was DRY! i filled it up with water until i got to a servo and then put coolant in... its staying at half on the dash board and then will creep up to hot and ill have to pull over.

what am i doing wrong and can someone please give me an idea of what i can do to help

thanks xx

[oztech007]

Firstly, Check that there are no External Coolant Leaks. Tighten every clamp on the hoses around the engine.
Second, check the inside of your oil filler cap for any sign of milkyness or condensation. And check the dipstick for oil colour. If its a creamy or strange colour, its leaking coolant into the oil.
Also check the inside of the Radiator Cap for any Milky coloured sludge.

If your loosing Coolant, there are only 2 Possibilities. An External Leak or Internal Leak.
Or it could be a blocked Radiator or sticking Thermostat, which could be causing poor circulation of the cooling System, and therefore some evaporation due to boiling.
If there are no leaks of any kind, maybe try flushing the radiator, and change the thermostat as well.

[chargedvx6]

I've had 2 stock commodore radiators let go at the end tanks and there were no obvious external signs of leakage. If you remove the plastic radiator shroud it should give you a fairly good view of the radiator end tanks with a torch down there. Look for rusty greeny couloured stains. Failing that your problem could ne caused by a faulty heater tap, water pump, coolant hose, intake manifold gaskets (again very common on V6s) or worst case scenario head gaskets.

I wouldn't stress because failed head gaskets are few and far between on these cars whereas failed intake manifold gaskets are. You can check the intake manifold gaskets by removing the engine cover (4x 10mm nuts) and having a look around where the alloy intake runners meet the head. If there's alot of gunk there or even flowing coolant it is a strong possibility they are perished. It's about $400 for a workshop to do them usually including a coolant flush

[Miint-xx]

i had a look at what uve pointed out and found the under neath the front of the car theres coolant on the bottom of the radiator... theres no milky colour any where but i did notice last night my heater wasnt working??? could that be a sign for a heater hose gone?

[chargedvx6]

Try rinsing the lealed coolant off and have a look again in a day or 2. You've probably been topping up coolant with straight water so it may be a bit hard to see any leaks. May try to have a look around there with the car idling after a drive but if there's coolant there now, chances are the radiator has let go unless that coolant was spilt when you were refilling the radiator previously?

As for the heater mot working, that suggests a leaky heater tap (on the rail under spark plug No. 4) or a failing heater core.

You could try some silver seal which seals the system from minor leaks but if the radiator is the cause of the issue it may just leave you stranded somewhere one day as they just split all of a sudden usually

[dope505069]

Maybe your mate never filled up coolant just lazy. Its natural for the water over time to go down if you don't fill it regularly that's what happens when you boil water.

If its creeping up and you have full water in and its not leaking anywhere it is the thermostat a $25 fix if that.

Ill give u a test to try let your car idol out the front of your house after a drive otherwise you will be waiting forever and when it starts to creep to about three quarters or a little less accelerate in neutral to about 4000 revs on and off for a couple of seconds like 10 seconds.

If it goes down after accelerating it is most definitely your water pump eBay $55 from a Brisbane seller bought one a couple of months ago. It is usually the impeller is worn down or disintegrated or the pump may be semi seized. By the way this is only the case if your car overheats while its stationary like at a lights or something. If it overheats while driving and accelerating im not sure what it is.

See how you go hope this helps, trust me its worth a shot.

Okay I just read your second post lol it must be the heater tap like they said Ive had that go on me before 2 and the coolant comes right to the front of the radiator and looks like its coming out of the radiator or hoses near by It had me clueless for a week until I asked someone on here. I had never changed it or taken notice of it before that's why I didn't think it would be that but if you watch that's where the coolants coming from and it rolls all the way down through the engine bay to the front.

Also a cheap fix $25 repco Tried to get it from supercheap but they didnt stock it and with the order cost and time i had to wait for the part it would have cost more.



.