Hi all

My wife phoned me earlier to tell me she is standing at a garage after the car showed her a message about Engine High Temp (water temp was half way) and she said she saw some steam coming out from under the bonnet. She checked and there was coolant in the reservoir and the car never displayed anything about coolant low. When I eventually got there the reservoir was opened already and it was empty (don't know how). I filled it up, drove it home and I have had a look around but can't see a water leak anywhere.

Any ideas? (other than selling it, I'm already looking around )

 

How old is the thermostat?

 

My guess is as old as the car so maybe 8 years or so. You think that could be it? I'm just worried that the engine might have gotten damaged. Any things to check out for? Where would the steam have escaped from?

 

I would replace the thermostat and see how it runs from there. My guess is that the thermostat broke causing it to overheat.

I am also thinking the steam was coming from the coolant bottle cap. The pressure built up to much and the release in the cap was triggered.

 

It's a bit late now, so can I maybe bypass the thermostat so that it's constantly circulating and then get a replacement tomorrow?

 

But if you just remove the thermostat and have to drive a little ways on like a highway or something like that it may overheat again.
When you have no thermostat and drive at a higher speed the coolant will flow to fast to cool it down and cause it to overheat.

 

Ah ok, that makes sense. Thanks Tech, helpful as always

 

Let me know how you make out.

 

Well, after a lot of fiddling and scratching around (not taking the thermostat out because I didn't have the right size torx bit) and draining some of the water to put more coolant in and after making sure there really were no leaks I took it for a test drive (after letting it idle for about 10mins). I was not 2 km away from home before the needle just suddenly started climbing really quick again and seeing as it was rush hour there was no way I could turn around to go back home (same direction as traffic) so I went to my wife's uncle which wasn't to far away and luckely he is/used to be a mechanic. After scratching around a bit and eventually getting the thermostat out and testing it in some boiling water, he confirmed that the thermo was busted. He did suggest that we "modify" the thermo (cut the bottom half off so your only left with the rim and the rubber seal until I could get a replacement) which we did and took it for a test drive and all was fine. The wife drove to work and back today no problems. Meanwhile I popped into Volvo and picked up a replacement for about $20, which I just put in a couple of mins ago and hey presto, running like a dream again

Thanks again man

 

Glad all is well now.