overheat

So i noticed when i was sitting in traffic that my temp gauge went to nearly max, pulled over and switched it off, popped bonnet and had a look, expansion bottle was fine but my rad hoses were we pretty rock solid, didnt want to pull the cap off just in case as it was hot but driving back to work after checking the cars temp was fine, what does the hard hoses mean? Just had new rad, themostat etc

When my car warms up my hoses get fairly hard aswell, i thought this was pretty normal, as i have had over heating problems in the past.

Yeah i jyst got a little nervous as its just had new radiator and and thermostat

Did the fans kick in like normal?

Radiator cap not releasing pressure?

gtir_woody wrote:Radiator cap not releasing pressure?

hmmm this im not sure of, id hope not as its a fairly new japspeed part (dont know how reliable these things are, im going to check my coolant pipes and the radiator level to see if anything has leaked out, i noticed a puddle a while back in my work carpark, maybe ive split a hose or something and all coolant has leaked out, ive just never noticed the hard pipes before

first 2 things I would check is the cooling fans are functioning, coming on and cycling as should & checking coolant level when cool.
my hunch is you rad fans not working & that would be best result really as generally easy to sort & cheap over other overheating issues.
I would expect pipes be quite hard if very high temp. What pressure is the japspeed cap rated at ?
standard is less than 1bar, I'm not a fan of the japspeed product range in general but that not mean your cap faulty in any way.

Mr B wrote:first 2 things I would check is the cooling fans are functioning, coming on and cycling as should & checking coolant level when cool.
my hunch is you rad fans not working & that would be best result really as generally easy to sort & cheap over other overheating issues.
I would expect pipes be quite hard if very high temp. What pressure is the japspeed cap rated at ?
standard is less than 1bar, I'm not a fan of the japspeed product range in general but that not mean your cap faulty in any way.

think the cap is rated at 1.2 bar but i will check this, when i opened the bonnet the fans were not on but i will check this tonight when im home along with coolant, hopefully my electrical knightmare has not found its way to the fans, i have a hunch that maybe my lower pipe is burst from changing the radiator as i noticed a puddle in my parking space a good while ago but never clicked onto it. i went with the japspeed when my radiator burst the last time so figured it would have been a bit better than the normal no named ebay brands.

ps. sorry i think i hit edit instead of quote wtf

Expect cap is 1.3bar which is too high really. Standard is 0.9 I believe & 1.1 is as high as I would use.
leaking bottom hose would be good as not too much expense or bother.
Do check fans though as I would of thought if bottom hose leaking consistently you would of had more heating issues & empty expansion tank.

yeah when i seen expansion bottle was fine i kinda wondered and it didnt overheat again once i started the car after pulling over, and that was a about a further 10min drive

1.3 bar radiator cap is too high??? i just used the one that came with the radiator, assuming it was what was required for the radiator, ill have to check if i have the standard one still

Don't worry too much over the cap at present as doubt that linked to current issue, I personally see no need for 1.3bar rad cap on UK road car.
1.1bar is most I would use. 1.3bar just puts more stress on an old cooling system that not really needed.

Maybe air lock?? or double check thermostat is working, put in a jug and pour boiling water over it it should open easily within a few seconds

Well coolant level was fine, radiator is full so no issue there, i drove it home which is an hour drive, pulled over when it was warm and let it idle for 15 mins the temp didnt budge and fans never came on, so i drove home fine temp was good all the way, got home and stopped at a carpark to collect the kids, 5mins, started car again and fans came on temp was fine, i drove about 300metres and then the temp rose to 2 3rds towards hot so i pulled over and popped the bonnet and the fans were on and the temp was remaining the same, so im assuming the fans were doing the job but i dont know what could cause this, the thermostat is fairly new but that doesnt really mean its working, maybe its sticking?

After reading your fans are kicking in & not losing water... Id say a dodgy thermostat or temp switch is on it way out giving false readings maybe

could be temp gauge or sender bit off perhaps ! they are old so highly possible.
Bit of an iffy thermostat is possible as some of the pattern part ones are shite. I only use BluePrint (part number ADN19214) & even Nissan as not expensive.
Best thing to do is get it warm on a run then come home & leave it running for 30 minutes while you around to observe. If you got genuine issue you'll see.
If doesn't start steaming & all seems normal besides the gauge then checking wiring & try new sender & test.
Worse case scenario is possible headgasket but with minimal current issue & no other symptoms you best reviewing it for more basic faults.

Waterpump aswell maybe?

well i would have thought water pump would cause it to overheat all the time? this seems to just happen on an occasion, happened this morning after a 30 minute drive so pulled over and it seemed to just climb slowly, the fans were on and hoses were rock solid, no steam was leaking from anywhere so i let it cool down for a moment and removed the radiator cap and released a ton of pressure, pipes went soft again and let it run with no cap on for about 5 mins to see if there was an airlock (seemed ok), put cap on and drove to work with the temp gauge staying just below halfway. im thinking maybe my thermostat is sticking closed sometimes but how do i test thermostat if it only happens ocassionally? im also going to try and find my old rad cap if that might help?

best bet with thermostat is just getting another one from decent parts brand
ADN19214 blueprint ones are about £14 but they are decent.
Caps are quite generic & can be sourced from motor factors should you need one.
Your rad is chinese and basically a rough design copy of the mishimoto with the black plastic 1.3bar cap, while some of the chinese cores are not bad for cheap money you can't trust the chinese with anything with moving parts or electronics as the fookers like cheap materials/components and no QC :-/
Can't see it being waterpump as no leak & never seen one with rotted rotor & they metal so don't fall to bits like the plastic shit on some french & german junk.
Ideally need use a handheld temp reader to get idea of real temp when showing very hot on car gauge.
basic checkover of temp sender & connector would be good idea & as your car had some electrical gremlins strong chance of elec related fault perhaps ...
Would ideally do a gas analyser sniffer test over the filler cap tube too to help rule out headgasket issue along with checking oil for condition & pull spark plugs for visual checking.
Hard to point the finger at moment unless more clues come to hand ...

kettle of water will tell you if thermostat is dodgy should open very quickly, if thermostat is a duff it will open very slowly