Emergency advice on overheating pls

[Ade B]

Mrs B is stuck with Junior B around the corner from a garage in Croydon following a sudden coolant loss (I suspect the water pump which has had an intermittent squeak for a few months..)

She's put some more water in to try to get to the garage, but has stopped again due to lots of steam and concern about blowing a gasket...

I've told her to walk to the garage and see if they can pick the car up..,

My question is presumably the temperature guage reads the coolant temp, ie. no coolant = inaccurate reading... therefore it is it a mad idea to let the car cool a bit, stick more water in and then drive (literally round the block) to the garage if the temp reading is still in the acceptable range - which it is..?

Plan B is to call the insurance roadside recovery (which is likely to not be particularly rapid...)

TIA

Ade

 

[wemorgan]

Tell her to be very careful when opening the radiator cap.

If it was me I'd wait 20-30mins for the engine to cool, refill with water then drive the 1/2 mile to the garage. But I'm less cautious than most I'd say.

If you think the recovery will also take 30mins then I'd wait.

Good luck.

 

[Ade B]

Tell her to be very careful when opening the radiator cap.

If it was me I'd wait 20-30mins for the engine to cool, refill with water then drive the 1/2 mile to the garage. But less cautious than most I'd say.

If you think the recovery will also take 30mins then I'd wait.

Good luck.

She's a practical lass and managed the coolant reservoir cap safely - she's currently on a mission to find 7 litres of water...

Roadside recovery in my experience takes hours and the local garage will charge £45 to pick up... The annoying thing is the car is literally round the corner but the one way system involves a couple of sets of lights...

We are days away from going abroad for 3 weeks... Glad this didn't happen on the way to Heathrow..

Ade

 

[BTB 500]

Provided it's cold to start with you can probably drive it a short distance. Dragsters don't have a cooling system at all!

 

[wemorgan]

She's a practical lass and managed the coolant reservoir cap safely - she's currently on a mission to find 7 litres of water...

Roadside recovery in my experience takes hours and the local garage will charge £45 to pick up... The annoying thing is the car is literally round the corner but the one way system involves a couple of sets of lights...

We are days away from going abroad for 3 weeks... Glad this didn't happen on the way to Heathrow..

Ade

I wish her luck. It ruins the day. I've been in similar situations myself (Citroen BX often overheating, then one day catching fire on the M4!).

 

[SilverSaloon]

should be ok to drive a short distance if the car has become cool. ie really just round the corner. make sure it is cool before tipping cold water in there aswell.

 

[Ade B]

update, apparently the top hose (from rad to thermostat) is leaking... seems odd, excess coolant pressure? (the dread CHG again..... )

She's chucking two more bottles of evian in and then taking her chances round the block... I hope we don't regret this..


Ade

 

[wemorgan]

She's chucking two more bottles of evian in and then taking her chances round the block....

sparkling with a slice of lemon I hope

 

[Ade B]

sparkling with a slice of lemon I hope

And some gin...

She made it to the garage and it seems from their intial glance the thermostat housing has disintegrated - which if thats all it is will be a cheap and easy fix.. except this would be out of character for the car which prefers expensive and difficult issues as a rule...

Will update.

Thanks for quick and helpful feedback all..

Ade

ps mods you may want to move this to engine..

 

[Dieselman]

Don't put the rad cap back on tight after refilling. That stops the system pressurising and blowing the water out.

A short jouney with the heater on full won't harm the engine.

 

[grober]

Not sure if this applies to your car but some older cars had plastic thermostat housings later replaced by metal ones. Hopefully it's just that.

 

[Ade B]

yep placcy thermostat housing - would even fall under my meagre skill set to repair, except no time currently. I'm working on the principle that I'm assuming head gasket failure and total top end rebuild and will be pleasantly surprised when the parts bill comes in under 3 figures...

as is often stated.. the joys of old cars

Ade

 

[mattc]

Ask Ian Walker whether he's got a spare metal housing lying around his place - I bet he has.

Is the coolant sensor arrangement the same on the 2 parts??

 

[BTB 500]

Hope the studs holding the thermostat cover aren't seized (been there)!

 

[Ade B]

Hope the studs holding the thermostat cover aren't seized (been there)!

Ditto, resulting in one sheared stud and a simple diy job winding up in a garage...


Ade

 

[BTB 500]

Yup I sheared a stud off flush with the (alloy) inlet manifold. Took a lot longer than 5 mins to fix

 

[grober]

New thermostat may actually come as one unit combined in a housing.

 

[Ade B]

Fixed, £80 + VAT which seems ok, I guess it covers thermostat cover, coolant mix and labour.. (£50 p/h)

Not looked at the invoice or the car yet but they turned it round quickly - pretty pleased..

Ade