The daughter of a friend has a 1994 Vauxhall Corsa which is overheating.
The symptoms are basically the the engine overheats (high gauge reading and boiling in header tank); heater remains cool.
The mechanic (who sounds a bit inept) has had the car for over a month; he's changed the head gasket (twice ), thermostat (twice) and says it isn't the water pump.
I've not seen the car but to me it sounds like pump, collapsed hose (mech says it isn't) or an airlock.
Ideas? Experiences?
There can be difficulty bleeding the air out , you need to remove the temp. sender.
Blocked or failed radiator is possible.
First test would be a test of the air in the header tank to eliminate cracked/corroded head or blown gasket.
Water pump is very easy to check with only minor dismantling, by removing the hose behind the pump, the impeller can be felt, if it is there and turning then it is ok.
mrcheerful
Sounds like head gasket again. Probably needs a new head (skimming may help but no guarantee). Maybe there's a crack between combustion chambers which the mechanic didn't see. I once owned a BL Princess with the revolting O series engine which boiled up the coolant and spewed engine oil everywhere. I took to driving with the pressure cap off and topping up every ten miles. Never cured it despite having engine out (it was a heavy lump too), new cylinder head and replaced every seal and gasket. Waste of time and I sold it for buttons just to get rid. I informed the buyer and he thought he was getting a bargain. DaveK
Order mechanic to remove water pump- i expect he'll find either the impellor has fallen off (some batches had a plastic impellor and are a known problem) or its spinning on the shaft.
Tim..
I would not bother with this mechanic again! He has already changed the head gasket and thermostat twice over!!!
Its time to take it to another garage even if its for an examination - maybe not tell them the head gasket and thermostat have been replaced twice.
I'm not sure if it's a know problem with many other cars but I have experienced rubber hoses on a corsa 'bloated' basically the hose becomes very soft and is possible to form what used to be a hard 'suction' type hose into a flat plasticine form - preventing a circulation. I have actually seen this on a corsa that over heated and required a head gasket replacement. The hose in question can be viewed on the right hand side of the engine and is about 18mm diameter when in its original condition.
One question are you losing coolant and are you replacing any lost liquid with the correct dosage of coolant?
Many thanks for all those who replied. Problem sorted. Heater flushed through properly and air bled. Now ok.
My mate had to stand over mechanic to get him to finish it. I suspect they won't be going there again....
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