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Overheating |
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Chevrons
 
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  Member No: #85
Location: N. Staffs |
Mine overheated on the way home a few nights ago. Topped up coolant as it was nowhere to be seen, but only needed about 1.5L. Took it out and after about five miles it overheated. Let it cool, checked coolant and topped it with same amount again. Took it to a garage local to work that I use and he diagnosed a failed head-gasket. He declined to repair it, and so it's sitting in the stores at work waiting for an AA recovery to Citroen, Crewe, who can't look at it until Thursday. Bah. |
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mark28
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  Member No: #102
Location: Hampshire |
Oh dear, that is not good on a 5 year old car . |
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gmerry
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   Member No: #21
Location: Scotland |
Hi Chevrons, the failed head gasket is very likely the result of the over-heating rather than the cause. Have you ever had to topup the coolant? Any idea if there is a problem with the thermostat housing: Cruiserphil suggests that these have a tendency to fail. One weak point in the system is that the is no low level alarm on the coolant header tank. Regards G |
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Disco300
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  Member No: #1123
Location: Crewe |
Sorry to hear about your problems Chevrons, I'm in Crewe so if you fancy a coffee and a chat sometime that would be great. Also interested to hear how Grenson went on with the repair. Don |
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cruiserphil
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  Member No: #38
Location: Celbridge |
Chevrons, Are they sure about the gasket? As G says they're are other possibilities that need to be investigated. The thermostat tank leak is normally not obvious until it bursts! Best of luck! Phil C. |
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Gobxoy
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  Member No: #786
Location: Essex |
cruiserphil wrote ... Chevrons, Are they sure about the gasket? As G says they're are other possibilities that need to be investigated. The thermostat tank leak is normally not obvious until it bursts! Best of luck! Phil C. Good point G and Phil. Chevrons you didn't mention if the engine was down on power or running rough? You could check these yourself fairly easily :-
I'm not on this forum as much as I used to be and can't remember if water pumps are a common problem? Which would also cause over heating if it's not the already mentioned thermostat/split header tank or other water leak (including head gasket/cracked block or head) as also said if it's the head gasket it's usually a secondary fault rather than primary fault. Hopefully this helps, and also some thing other than head gasket/block/head fault. Good luck Gobxoy |
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C6Dave
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 Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland |
Plus the radiators are prone to leak at the top where the header tank joins the fins as there is a gasket that can fail (did on my C4)
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Chevrons
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Member No: #85
Location: N. Staffs |
Thank you all for the help; I posted these symptoms as I couldn't find much on engine overheating - apart from the possible thermostat housing / header tank crack. For the record: 4yr 4 months since first registered and 79k miles. The engine started to loose power after it had been running too hot for a couple of miles and the heater didn't work, i.e. just cold air. I will not diagnose further as this is a company car. I rarely lift the bonnet, but rely on level sensors, however, I've never topped any fluids - yes Gmerry, 'low-coolant' seems an oversight. When it is diagnosed and fixed, I will post the results for the record and hopefully help future diagnosis for others. |
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Tjensen
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 Member No: #954
Location: Bergen |
No level sensor for coolant ! Did they forget ? Not good and nice to know. No heating inside is normal when coolant is low. Driving with overheated engine and low level may ruin the top/gasket | ||
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ciao_chao
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  Member No: #518
Location: Buckinghamshire |
Tjensen wrote ... No level sensor for coolant ! Did they forget ? Not good and nice to know. No heating inside is normal when coolant is low. Driving with overheated engine and low level may ruin the top/gasket I thought the system was meant to be sealed anyway. However I get your point as the cooling system can suffer damage. |
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Tjensen
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Member No: #954
Location: Bergen |
It is sealed. Most of us will never have problems with it. In the old days (before 1970's)you had to inspect and refill quite often. In the C6 we have a sealed system, filled with long-life coolant. But, things can go wrong and then we need to be warned. Warning of low level (like in the XM) makes it possible to refill and repair before overheating happens. Early temperature warning and monitoring (C6 have both oil and water temperture monitoring) with good visible alarms is important (Citroen was good at this in the DS, CX Turbo, XM). A modern car should have 1. Level warning 2. Temperature monitoring (separate for water and oil is good) 3.Danger warning if temperature threatens engine (head gasket and then.....). No level warning is really a problem. Oil temperature warning is extra safety, because leaking/faulty cooling system might allow the engine to overheat without warning of high coolant temperature. and all this is important because overheating might be VERY EXPENSIVE. | ||
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gmerry
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Member No: #21
Location: Scotland |
Might be worth checking the state of the heater coolant return metal pipe (known rust issue) above front left hand wheelarch. Regards G |
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gmerry
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Member No: #21
Location: Scotland |
Tjensen, it might be possible to retrofit a level warning sensor to the header tank. I've just checked out the circuit for the oil pressure warning light: its an old fashioned earthing sensor, normally closed and breaks the contact when the engine oil pressure is above threshhold pressure. A level switch could be tied into the engine harness in parallel with the oil pressure switch. On detecting a low coolant situation, this would set off the the monitoring alarms / stop engine light etc - would get your attention. So the coolant switch needs to be closed contact (to earth) for low level and open circuit when the level is correct. A float/reed switch is used by some cars for this purpose. Regards G tricky issue in my mind is getting a signal back through the ECU etc rather than how to select and install switch |
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Tjensen
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Member No: #954
Location: Bergen |
The "heater coolant return metal pipe" problem : I have read about this issue and even seen pictures on the site, but I have not suceeded in finding the pipe. I will try harder and give it some heat-resisting coating. And manually check coolant level...... Retrofitting a sensor in a CAN system may be complicated unless the system (ECU) is prepared and the wiring is already there. (If C4 C5 have level warning, this is probably the case.) In my XM the level sensor was really useful and detected problems. It was part of the expansion tank. |
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gmerry
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Member No: #21
Location: Scotland |
Tjenson, did you see my post? The oil pressure warning circuit is simply a switch to ground into the ECU: a coolant level switch in parallel with the oil pressure switch would obviate the need for any Canbus mods. Regards G |
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