Overheated, lost coolant and broke down!!! What is wrong with it this time??

[Miller350z]

Hi, hoping for a bit of advice/help. Car has never overheated whilst I have owned it. It was 27°c yesterday, may car had been sat for 8 hours. I got in to drive home. Going through town at 30-40mph. Got approximately 5 miles, around 12 mins driving and the engine management light came on, it juddered like hell and had no power. I pulled up and it smelt hot. I could hear a hissing/whinning noise. Opened the bonnet and coolant was coming from the header tank. Header tank was now empty. Waited for it to cool down. Topped rad up with water and nothing came from bleed screw. Topped up bleed screw and water came from rad cap filler hole. Drove home and left it.

I'm thinking....

1) blocked rad

2) thermostat

3) water pump

4) air in system

5) head gasket!!!

I had a p1217 code 

Any help would be good.

Thanks

 

[HEADPHONES]

I've heard of a few members radiator fans stop working.

Could be a possibility.

[ZMANALEX]

As what Headphones has said:  ^^^^^^

 

Start with checking out the 2 x fan motor operation.

 

You will now have air locks in the system so will also require a proper bleed.

[Miller350z]

Thanks for the reply guys, if the fans don't work do you have them in stock Alex?? Is there a back or method to bleeding the system? I heard it is a bit of a pain. 

Thanks

[Jack94]

I had a very similar situation the other day funnily enough. I knew it was definitely an airflow problem because it only happened when stationary/slow moving and I'd heard a lot about failing fan motors so stripped them out and as I suspected, neither were working properly.

 

The common problem is that the brushes seize, I followed a simple guide on here to split them apart and fix this. They work like new now and my wallet is no lighter 

[Payco]

Most folk on here replace the stock rads with the Mishimoro ones as they are better.

[Miller350z]

I guess any excuse to spend money on something new is good lol, just wanna make sure what part it is. So I just got home and started it in my garage, the drivers side fan came on fairly soon. I left it a while and the second fan came on. I unscrewed the bleed screw and coolant did actually come out this time, along with a load of bubbles. (aa man tried this on the roadside, however he left both rad cap and bleed screw off And nothing came out of the bleed pipe). At this point the heater did not work. I left it a little longer and did the same thing to the bleed screw and I repeated this 4 times in total. I never tool the bleed screw totally out....should I have done??? Now heater is working great. The top left rad pipe was really hot (about 75°c, however the bottom right rad pipe was still cold around 35°C. I used a laser thermometer to get the temp. So in a way I'm no better off, do I still have air in the system?

Should I just bite the bullet, empty the rad, remove the thermostat and stick it in some boiling water and see if it opens?

[Miller350z]

Other thing I forgot to mention whemnthe car got hotter is seemed like the fans got a kick up the arse and span faster. Are they multi speed?

[Miller350z]

So just left it 5 mins while I wrote the bit above and both rad pipes are hot. Top left and bottom rad to thermostat. So does that mean both thermostat and water pump are working fine?

 

[Rob332]

Was coolant/ steam escaping from the cap on the top of the radiator ?

 

Always start with the easy fix first. A cooling system is pressurised which raises the boiling point. The cap keeps the system pressurised and if the seal has gone on the cap the system loses pressure and the coolant over heats. I would check this first.

If no joy, then get the system pressure tested for leaks.

If nothing found, then flush the system/ check for a blocked radiator.

If you are not mechanically minded then best to take to a garage for diagnosis.

 

All the best dude.