water temp gauge through the roof!!

[ecogsi]

my 02 clio 172's water temperature gauge shot up to the highest mark today, then it droped down to norma as i was driving to work. there was no loss of power or anything unusual apart from the heat coming out of the vents going cold when the water temerature guage was at the highest mark then hot when it dropped to normal. hope to god the head gasket hasnt gone. any help would be appreciated.

 

[ecogsi]

topped the coolant up yesterday if that helps?? coolant and oil seem fine

 

[edde]

Temp sensor or more likly thermostat broken easy enought to do

 

[ecogsi]

safe to drive??

 

[edde]

Howw much do you want to drive it?

If it starts going high get it switched off ASAP.

Its an easy enough and cheap enough fix I'd do it ASAP.

 

[ecogsi]

cheers edde. anyway to check whats gone or is it a garage job?

 

[edde]

I'd recon its the thermostat judging by what you said its closed up instead of staying open hence no radiator cooling the engine and hence the high temp.
Garage will be able to check see if the sensors working though the right temsp etc.

But the wiring to that temp sensor has always been trouble more so on 182's for some reason. But since you said the heating went cold would lead me to think the termostat closed rarther than the sesnor's/wiring an issue.

 

[MicKPM]

I don't think its just the Stat Edde as he said the heaters hot air output went cold when the gauge shot up. If the stat locked up the heater would've stayed hot and the temp gauges range wouldn't have suddenly peaked as he described. Sounds more like a cooling circuit issue to me such as a blockage, airlock or failure somewhere. By all means go for a stat change but i don't think that alone will fix it... just my 10p

Mick

 

[cliobritt]

Get a sniff test done, you will know for sure if the HG is gone.

 

[ecogsi]

checked the water and its below the minum mark, it was normal when i topped it up the other day. checked the oil and it seems clean allthough it seems higher than the other day. should i top the water up and see how i go??

 

[ecogsi]

seems to be a light knocking noise coming from cambelt area also

 

[ecogsi]

Worried about the lack of coolant and light ticking from engine?? Any info??

 

[Andyk1801]

I used to have a 106GTI many moons ago and I ha a similar problem while driving the temp indicator went sky high and then suddenly dropped off, I thought nothing of it at first but drove it a few more days and it did it again a couple of times, took it to the garage to get checked and the head gasket had gone and also it got that hot it had cracked the cylinder head. I'd go straight to the garage and get it checked if I was you.

 

[MartinR]

light ticking can be numerous things carbon canister,injectors etc.. even woodpeckers.

is there any leakage comin from the underside of the engine? (aux belt side) could be leaky water pump which is causing a temp hike due to insufficent coolant in the system??

 

[ecogsi]

water pumps gone and thatss what the noise was apparently. should i change the cambelt the same time? it was changed 20000 miles ago?

 

[MartinR]

water pump isn't cambelt driven its done by the aux belt.