Is This a Major Problem Comin ???

[SiRSKiNBAD]

Hi

Im lookin for a bit of advice , please help .

I was driving into Glasgow 2day , and was caught up in the usual heavy traffic , stopin and starting .

newayz , after a while of sitting idle in netral i noticed that the temp gauge started to go up towards the red , then once i started movin again it went back down to normal ( in the middle ) . It did this a few times and i was startin to worry .

So i parked the car in the carpark then went about what i had 2 do . A couple of hours later when driving home i was worried it was gonna do it again but it didnt , just stayed normal .

has any1 else had any thing like this b4 ?? Is this the begining of Head problems ??

Thankz

[Chillitt]

more likely time to check your viscous fan is working

[JimL]

Almost impossible to know whether the viscous fan is working or not. Sure you can stick a newspaper in there and see whether the fan stops or whether its locked in but who is to say whether the thermostat is open or closed, what temp the coolant is, is it over 82 and rising or under it in which case the stat should stay shut and the fan should be passive.

I'd start checking my coolant levels very regularly and watch for problems. Dont put up with any weakness in the cooling system such as a leaky rad. Maybe do the simple and cheap things too such as a new rad pressure cap and a new thermostat.

[SiRSKiNBAD]

Almost impossible to know whether the viscous fan is working or not. Sure you can stick a newspaper in there and see whether the fan stops or whether its locked in but who is to say whether the thermostat is open or closed, what temp the coolant is, is it over 82 and rising or under it in which case the stat should stay shut and the fan should be passive.

I'd start checking my coolant levels very regularly and watch for problems. Dont put up with any weakness in the cooling system such as a leaky rad. Maybe do the simple and cheap things too such as a new rad pressure cap and a new thermostat.

Quick question , is it a easy job to replace the rad cap and thermostat ? i am a complete car novice .

Thankz

[Slugsie]

Oh yes, very easy. Just done mine, and if that's all you're doing it'll take maybe 15minutes at most.

Radiator cap... remove old one, fit new one.
Thermostat... undo 3 nuts that surround the radiator cap housing, pull out old thermostat, put in new thermostat, do up the 3 nuts (making sure that you distribute the pressure around the housing as you go).
The top up the coolant to replace any the dribbled out when you undid the housing.

[BUSHWHACKER]

Oh yes, very easy. Just done mine, and if that's all you're doing it'll take maybe 15minutes at most.

Radiator cap... remove old one, fit new one.
Thermostat... undo 3 nuts that surround the radiator cap housing, pull out old thermostat, put in new thermostat, do up the 3 nuts (making sure that you distribute the pressure around the housing as you go).
The top up the coolant to replace any the dribbled out when you undid the housing.

Make sure you recover the rubber ring that goes around the thermostat, 'cos you'll need to re-use it for the new one plus it seals the the housings together.

[kitesurf_phil]

I had a wandering temp guage. Turned out to be an airlock. Check coolant level at the cap not at the expansion bottle.

[Slugsie]

Make sure you recover the rubber ring that goes around the thermostat, 'cos you'll need to re-use it for the new one plus it seals the the housings together.

The thermostat I bought from PartCo came with a new rubber ring.