VZ Thermostat Problems

[ozteel]

Hey guys new as of today and was gunning it everywhere then traffic slowed down and was slowly moving it was raining all during this then all of a sudden engine heat gauge spiked so i turned around and went to nearest servo stopped and turned off car. thermos where still running so i poured water over engine and waited 5 mins then hopped back in and drove home as driving home the gauge kept spiking up and down so when i got home stopped and left car running and gauge slowly went to 3/4 then dropped back to the usual 1/4. took it for a spin and as i was driving around gauge was spiking up and down again. just wondering if anyone had the same problem and what the outcome was and if any got any suggestions?? cheers

[exastra]

Hi, have you tried to add water to see if it has a leak somewhere? These are prone for the water pump to fail. Happened to mine a day after I bought it! Not much warning, just a real quick spike in temperature and then the overheat warning. Stopped, added water and drove home. Filled it up with water the next day and got it to running temp and checked for leaks. The water pump was leaking. (Check for water driping onto the top of the front of the sump). Replaced the pump (an easy job) and now all good (after a flush and adding the red coolant too).
Good luck!

[RiCeY]

Spiking generally means an air lock in the cooling system. If it was the thermostat stuck closed it would stay hot, not go hot/cold/hot etc.

[Injured_otter]

Yeah I had a similar problem with my VZ, Started to overhgeat then drop back down to normal. I took the car to holden and they told me it was my radioator, 2 weeks after replacing it the car over heated again and took it to holden and they then said it was the thermostat. I replaced that and same thing only 3 days later it overheated. Took it to ULTRATUNE cos I thought a fresh look may find something. and they advised me that I needed a new water pump. bought one from ebay for like $150, got them to install it and havent had any problems since...

So yeah long story short, check the water pump for leaks???

[ozteel]

Had a look around but no leaks anywhere. also if it was a leak or blockage it would do it all the time am i right? did it again last night after it hasnt done it for 1 week jumped up to the highest it can go then stayed there for 10 mins while i kept drivin then all of a sudden took 2 seconds to get back to normal.