overheating

[sophie23_98]

help does anyone know if the filler cap is the only means of adding water to the engine as my car has just overheated but i have never found out what the cap that says radiator coolant does but saw that it has a dipstick attached what is that for ?
thanks for any help

[gsb876]

Hi Sophie,

I filled my car with halfords Advanced protection Anti-freeze and summer coolant, that goes in the middle nozzle where theres no dipstick just the coolant label?

Not sure if you\'ve put just water in there? I usually fill mine once a week just to keep it topped up and never had probs with overheating.

I think the one with the dipstick may just be the screen spray?? not sure which one you mean

[Andyp]

think she means the overflow tank on the drivers side?

[sophie23_98]

yeah that is the one on the drivers side at the front the screenwash  is on the other side i think but andy i think the pipe where it goes down is loose so would that cause the pressure so that water would escape and cause it to overheat as it loses water out of the system cheers again guys

[Andyp]

hey sophie, hopefully this will be more help

you can fill in these two areas, though the filler cap on the right in the place for coolant.. don\'t open when hot thou!

[Andyp]

eek didn\'t see the 2nd post..

if that pipe is loose, your system will not be pressurised and it will spit coolant out.. making you think you need a nasty rebuild etc..

I had the same problem thou mine was cracked at the bottom...

I used filler to fix mine (well my mechanic did) but you can buy the coolant neck (one on the left) from jimmys etc

best of luck!!

[sophie23_98]

the one on the left i tried to fill it after it was overheated but it seemed just to come out at the bottom so not sure if i have a leak or not but i can fill if up on the right does it need to be filled up on the left one?
thanx again

[Andyp]

ok if you\'ve filled it via the left hand side neck and it\'s pouring out the bottom you\'ve got a serious leak there sophie. May help to try and trace it, my thoughts are that it\'s the round tank that the neck goes into has a tear or something in the bottom there...

ya gonna NEED to get that sorted as everytime coolant goes into that overflow tank (as it goes a lot) it\'s just gonna be lost on the floor, therefore everything passed into it is lost.. causing it to overheat...

I\'ve only ever put coolant in the one on the right

[sophie23_98]

cheers andy you been a big help i will try and find it tomorrow but when i looked down today it does look like a crack or tear down there. i hope it will be easy to fix.

[Andyp]

no probs

as I said I had the same problem and freaked out! amazing what a little crack does!

Once you\'ve found it should be quite easy to replace, only plastic

let us know how ya get on

[bnaellis]

Originally posted by Andyp
hey sophie, hopefully this will be more help

you can fill in these two areas, though the filler cap on the right in the place for coolant.. don\'t open when hot thou!

Andy if this car over heats when it arrives nect week it\'s you fault for using it in the illustration:(

rgds

[Andyp]

lol I couldn\'t find a good engine pic!

I\'d take those red rings off the car before selling it matey lol

[sophie23_98]

right i have had a look at the pipe i poured water into it and i see were its leaking what i want to know is can that pipe pull off as it leaking right at the bottom were it goes onto the tank.i tried to pull it but i dont want to pull to much incase i break it.

[Andyp]

ahh glad you\'ve found the culprit..

forgive my memory as it was nearly a year ago this happened to me hehe. I don\'t know as if it\'s part of the whole system (meant to be fused to the tank at the bottom)

I\'ll go take a picture of mine once I\'ve fully got up to show ya how mine was done.. if I can\'t work it out i\'ll phone my mechanic hehe

[sophie23_98]

well just spoke to brian and he says that is just the filler neck for the tank wont make a differene if it leaks from there but if the tank is full it will leak anyway.
so i think its the tank now as i just filled up the water and started the car within 3 mins of the car started it started to leak from the tank.
i have just tried to look how to take the tank out took all the panels for air filter but it didnt open much view it looks to complicated so i put it back together any help much appreciated.