what have i done?

Sp00n · 26 Jun 2006 at 09:46

I went home for the weekend and drive back to brighton yesterday, just before i left i topped up the water level in the coolant tank but i forgot to screw the top on properly. I didn't realise until i was in brighton as it wasn't running that hot.

I managed to boil off all the water and as soon as i arrived in brighton, i popped the bonnet and topped the water back up and didnt drive it till later on last night.

Now when i got up this morning to go to work, i noticed that the temp guage seems to be higher than normal (it's always over-read but this is higher up the scale). It seems to be going up and down as in the same range as it did before, but its just doing it higher up the temp guage, eg:

It used to sit between 100 / 110 degree's on the guage (should be 90 which is exactly horizontal) and never went above it, now it sits between about 105 and 115/120 degree's which puts the temperature warning light but the fan doesn't kick in for a couple minutes, when it does the temp guage seems to hold steady at around 120 with the temp light still on.

I've had a load of stuff done to the cooling system recently aswell, new radiator, thermostat, fan switch.

Is my engine overheating or have i fried the temperature sensor which the dash guage read's from?

Firestar_3x · 26 Jun 2006 at 09:48

Odds are its an airlock in the system.

Sp00n · 26 Jun 2006 at 10:01

What's an airlock?

paradigm · 26 Jun 2006 at 10:02

Bubble of air in an otherwise liquid system.

Sp00n · 26 Jun 2006 at 10:12

What will happen if i don't get it 'looked at'?

Firestar_3x · 26 Jun 2006 at 10:13

Hot spot in the engine, worst case Head Gasket Failure which can mean 1000's to fix.

Phal · 26 Jun 2006 at 10:13

paradigm said:
Bubble of air in an otherwise liquid system.

Which in turn stop the water from flowing around correctly

If the water ran that low then the pump may have also been damaged :/

iCraig · 26 Jun 2006 at 10:31

It's pretty easy to bleed the cooling system. Just have plenty of coolant mix ready to put back in.

Lopéz · 26 Jun 2006 at 10:45

Firestar_3x said:
Hot spot in the engine, worst case Head Gasket Failure which can mean 1000's to fix.

Thousands? He could probably get a whole low mileage engine supplied and fitted for well under that.

Firestar_3x · 26 Jun 2006 at 10:47

All depends what car it is, could be an S class or it could be a banger.

paradigm · 26 Jun 2006 at 10:49

Its a MK3 golf IIRC.

Sp00n · 26 Jun 2006 at 10:52

paradigm said:
Its a MK3 golf IIRC.

Indeed, mk3 1.4.

If its gonna cost a load to fix i'll have to seriously think about the new car, but i'll give the garage a ring and see if they can take a look.

Thanks for the replies people

Dj_Jestar · 26 Jun 2006 at 11:14

Check the oil as well, as it would be carbonised if it got too hot

monkeyspank · 26 Jun 2006 at 11:20

iCraig said:
It's pretty easy to bleed the cooling system. Just have plenty of coolant mix ready to put back in.

yep, do it yourself dude

you might as well drain the whole system while you are at it and fill it up properly with new coolant mix.

kaiowas · 26 Jun 2006 at 11:21

monkeyspank said:
yep, do it yourself dude you might as well drain the whole system while you are at it and fill it up properly with new coolant mix.

If it's just had a load of new cooling stuff fitted then presumably the coolant would have been changed then, no point doing it again. Bleeding it shouldn't be too difficult though, certainly not worth paying someone to do.

monkeyspank · 26 Jun 2006 at 11:42

Didn't see that bit

(hangover + monday)

I'd be worried if it needed topping up so soon after being filled, unless it wasn't filled properly when the work was done.

Firestar_3x · 26 Jun 2006 at 11:45

monkeyspank said:
Didn't see that bit (hangover + monday)

I'd be worried if it needed topping up so soon after being filled, unless it wasn't filled properly when the work was done.

Sp00n said:
but i forgot to screw the top on properly, I didn't realise until i was in brighton as it wasn't running that hot.

I managed to boil off all the water and as soon as i arrived in brighton

Sounds like you need to go back to bed!

monkeyspank · 26 Jun 2006 at 12:01

Yep, managed to blag the afternoon off so it's all good.

Just wondered why he had to top it up at all if it's been recently filled.

Sp00n · 26 Jun 2006 at 12:38

Was an airlock, took it round to a local garage and they sorted it out for free

I'm happy again, cheers guys

volospian · 26 Jun 2006 at 12:45

Sp00n said:
I managed to boil off all the water and as soon as i arrived in brighton, i popped the bonnet and topped the water back up and didnt drive it till later on last night.

Did you put anti-freeze in there as well, or just top it up with normal water?

Anti-freeze effects the way the cooling system works and it may cause the engine to run slightly hotter if there is none in there. Although whether it would affect things to that level I don't know. I'm sure someone more Knowledgeable than me will be along in a minute to put us all in the picture

PS. While having a quick look around, to see if I could find out how much effect anti-freeze has on the running temp of an engine I found this:

Should ingestion of antifreeze occur, ethanol (alcoholic beverages) can be administered until proper treatment can be started in order to slow the conversion of methanol to formaldehyde and formic acid which are the substances responsible for methanol's toxicity

So, remember, if you accidentally drink antifreeze, you should immediately drink alcohol. I would prefer not to take any chances and I think a few bottles of beer after refilling the system should always be taken, just as a precaution.