1995 Xantia 1.8i overheating

Silly man. If the engine is overheating you do NOT switch it off - with the engine switched off the cooling system (water, radiator and fans) doesn't operate. You should have opened the windows, turned the heater to max, turned the blower on full and held the engine at a fast idle until the temperature dropped to normal.

You've probably got an airlock somewhere. Also if you had to put a lot of water in, and didn't put in any antifreeze you will have lowered the efficiency of the coolant.

Switching the engine off when it was hot.

What about the fan not coming on though? point taken about not switching the engine off.

Some systems are designed to run above the normal boiling point of water due to being slightly pressurised (or rather, they can run above that temp but don't all the time). Just because the temp is a little higher than normal, or indeed above 100C does not necassarily mean that the fan should come on. Never driven a Xantia so I don't know when the fan is supposed to kick in - certainly sometime before the 'red' area on the guage though.

However, it does sound as though you may have a problem with your cooling system. When was the coolant last replaced? It should be replaced every other year. The radiator may be clogged with squashed flies, leaves and other crap preventing it from working efficiently. Finally, if you are changing the coolant, it would be a good idea to flush the engine and reverse flush the radiator with clean water to clean it out. Refill with the correct water/coolant mix and ensure there are no airlocks and you should be OK.

This is all assuming the thermostat valve isn't stuck closed or something silly like that.

Assuming that was in traffic then your radiator fan switch has died (or the connecters fallen off). It's not an uncommon failure , you just unscrew it from the radiator & screw a new one in. If it's doing it at speed then there's another problem.

I've just been out to the car and now here is the situation.

After starting the car the temp just goes up and up, the fan doesn't kick in at all.

The top hose from the radiator gets very hot but stays cold past the thermistor.

I've no idea how to bleed the system, can anyone help or point me to a guide?

Forgot to mention my heaters only blow cold air even when the temp is 90-100 degrees.

If the top hose is hot then I reckon the thermostat is probably ok. You could have an airlock. There are bleed screws on the thermostat housing (probably) and on the pipes going to the heater. You may need to make a header tank out of an old bottle because the expansion tank is lower than some of the pipes.

-- Malc

Hello,

Your heater matrix is probably knackered then. Have you only recently bought the car? Some people will try and hide radiator or cooling leaks by putting that awful RADWELD in the system. This dislodges all the rust in the engine and blocks the heater matrix - which is why you are not getting any water flowing through it. It's either your thermostat or the channels in the engine for water cooling are blocked by rubbish. Attach a high pressure hose and try to flush it out both ways. Try the same for the heater matrix, although I think you will need a new one. That's old cars for you. It often happens when people only top them up with water. the core plugs blow and then once it is fixed, it can be too late.

No of course not because it will be at a normal temperature. The OP stated that it was overheating (temp at 110 degrees). In this case the proceedure is definately not to turn the engine off as the engine then has very little capacity to dump heat.

Obviously if the engine temperature is within the normal operating range it's not a problem to switch it off. In this case it wasn't.

Length of journey has f*ck all to do with engine temperature anyway, or perhaps you'd like to explain how the laws of equilibrium don't apply on a long journey. Retard.

Why don't you read and consider the implication what's actually been written before shooting your mouth off?

OK, you're in the classic more than one problem zone. As a cheap start change the thermostat (

ALthough if the coolant fans not working then letting it idle really doesn't help. Ditto if it it's got a leak.

I went my dads today and emptied the radiator, flushed it with a garden hose then refilled it taking special care to make sure there are no airlocks.

Temps at idle are now up to the high eighties then the fan kicks in and brings it back down.

I've just been for a drive about town (stop start stop start), temps are ok. Even the heater works now. Looks like it was just an airlock

Thanks to every one who took the time to reply to a noob

Your fan has failed- on the Xantia, like alot of citroens there is a 12 bore cartridge shaped / sized fan resistor back down by the NS headlight which is usually the culprit for a non working cooling fan. Any independant garage familair with Cit's and able to do basic electrical fault finding should be able to fix this.

Tim..

Definately an airlock, but the causing problem is that the fan doesnt work, the engine overheated, blew out the coolant, and now, after refilling it you have an airlock.

Tim..