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[terry paget]

2010 Astra 1.6 petrol manual hatchback
Son Jonny rang me this morning, car flashing a temperature light. He pulled over , rang me, I said call the AA (he was about 40 miles away).  AA man found header tank cap not tight, so added water and tightened it, all still not well. No obvious hose leak, AA man delivered it home to me, suggesting water pump or head gasket. Car is now in my garage, cooling down.

Please advise.

[Marks DTM Calib]

There is a solid plastic pipe from the top of the stat housing to the throttle body at the rear of the engine.

Check it carefully, I have seen this go brittle and split (even crumble)

[dave the builder]

If the cap was not tight then the coolant will be lost ,especially in this weather 
I advised you change the water-pump when you did the cam-belt 
putting cold water into a hot engine is a terrible idea 

when it's cooled down, top up the coolant ,check the oil,
run the engine with the expansion cap off and check that there is not bubbles in the header tank
replace the cap
 run it up to temperature and check the stat opens and the fans kick in
the 2 pipes that go to the heater matrix in the engine bay (bulkhead) are a common leak area
hope they have not cooked the engine 

[cam.in.head]

Also make sure the cap still has its innards!. I've seen the valves fall out if the cap gets dropped making the cap purely a decorative item rather than a pressure cap.
This was discovered on a friends car which only overheated on motorway runs but was OK short local journeys. Tell tale for checking the cap initially was that the hoses never pressurised up at all.

[terry paget]

Thanks to all for advice. I was in despair, as 2 other cars were out of action, and son Dan had gone on honeymoon in my last Omega.

Having conveyed home Jonny & Elaine to Chippenham without their car, this evening I began to seek the fault. I topped up the header tank, and ran the engine to warm it up and watch for leaks. I plugged in my diagnoser.

No leaks appeared, and as the coolant temperature passed 96 degrees the fan engaged. Nothing untoward happened. No leaks, no steam.
After 15 minutes of the fan cutting in and out, I decided to take it for a test drive. Drove 10 miles, no problems.

The fault code P05967-16 appeared, and would not clear. I believe that is the thermostat code. Might it have failed shut?

[dave the builder]

Thanks to all for advice. I was in despair, as 2 other cars were out of action, and son Dan had gone on honeymoon in my last Omega.

Having conveyed home Jonny & Elaine to Chippenham without their car, this evening I began to seek the fault. I topped up the header tank, and ran the engine to warm it up and watch for leaks. I plugged in my diagnoser.

No leaks appeared, and as the coolant temperature passed 96 degrees the fan engaged. Nothing untoward happened. No leaks, no steam.
After 15 minutes of the fan cutting in and out, I decided to take it for a test drive. Drove 10 miles, no problems.

The fault code P05967-16 appeared, and would not clear. I believe that is the thermostat code. Might it have failed shut?

   
fault code P0597  or P0598 and P0599 

is the fault codes  for electronic thermostat

hope that is the issue and it's solved fast for you Terry

probably available from a local factors

[terry paget]

Thanks to all for advice. I was in despair, as 2 other cars were out of action, and son Dan had gone on honeymoon in my last Omega.

Having conveyed home Jonny & Elaine to Chippenham without their car, this evening I began to seek the fault. I topped up the header tank, and ran the engine to warm it up and watch for leaks. I plugged in my diagnoser.

No leaks appeared, and as the coolant temperature passed 96 degrees the fan engaged. Nothing untoward happened. No leaks, no steam.
After 15 minutes of the fan cutting in and out, I decided to take it for a test drive. Drove 10 miles, no problems.

The fault code P05967-16 appeared, and would not clear. I believe that is the thermostat code. Might it have failed shut?

   
fault code P0597  or P0598 and P0599 

is the fault codes  for electronic thermostat

hope that is the issue and it's solved fast for you Terry

probably available from a local factors

I did not know my car had an electronic thermostat. The only thermostat I was aware of is the mechanical thermostat which resides at the left hand end of the block. Is that the one you refer to? I have changed one on another Astra. Do you reckon that could have caused today's problem?

[dave the builder]

like this clicky

is that what is fitted ? check the part numbers etc 

some have metal housings , some have plastic housings
beware , over-tighten the stat and the housing cracks
many sellers include a new housing
( so get the old one off, take it with you to compare 
if you snap the housing taking the old one off ,you'll need a housing too

loose rad cap probably caused the main problem  BUT you need to sort the stat anyway

[terry paget]

Thanks to all for advice. I was in despair, as 2 other cars were out of action, and son Dan had gone on honeymoon in my last Omega.

Having conveyed home Jonny & Elaine to Chippenham without their car, this evening I began to seek the fault. I topped up the header tank, and ran the engine to warm it up and watch for leaks. I plugged in my diagnoser.

No leaks appeared, and as the coolant temperature passed 96 degrees the fan engaged. Nothing untoward happened. No leaks, no steam.
After 15 minutes of the fan cutting in and out, I decided to take it for a test drive. Drove 10 miles, no problems.

The fault code P05967-16 appeared, and would not clear. I believe that is the thermostat code. Might it have failed shut?

   
fault code P0597  or P0598 and P0599 

is the fault codes  for electronic thermostat

hope that is the issue and it's solved fast for you Terry

probably available from a local factors

I did not know my car had an electronic thermostat. The only thermostat I was aware of is the mechanical thermostat which resides at the left hand end of the block. Is that the one you refer to? I have changed one on another Astra. Do you reckon that could have caused today's problem?

The code was P0597-61, and looking on e-bay the Astra thermostats come in housings with electrical connections, so can be called electronic. Strange that the code should come up, and even stranger that I could not erase it. Much easier to change than the head gasket, though, or even the water pump.

[dave the builder]

depends on how many housings you snap removing the old one and fitting the new one 
water pump is a 15 minute job and i'm slow doing jobs 

[dave the builder]

oh , and if your buying off ebay rather than buying local, make sure it is UK stock , not a "other courier " 2 week wait 

[biggriffin]

Thanks to all for advice. I was in despair, as 2 other cars were out of action, and son Dan had gone on honeymoon in my last Omega.

Having conveyed home Jonny & Elaine to Chippenham without their car, this evening I began to seek the fault. I topped up the header tank, and ran the engine to warm it up and watch for leaks. I plugged in my diagnoser.

No leaks appeared, and as the coolant temperature passed 96 degrees the fan engaged. Nothing untoward happened. No leaks, no steam.
After 15 minutes of the fan cutting in and out, I decided to take it for a test drive. Drove 10 miles, no problems.

The fault code P05967-16 appeared, and would not clear. I believe that is the thermostat code. Might it have failed shut?

 I'm going to say this, I will be the nasty man, Terry stop buying old scrappers, that you bodge up and send your family out in, because they keep going wrong on a regular basis, the amount you've wasted in the past 12months could have bought your daughter and son a decent low mileage car each,, Alternatively let them buy there own cars, and you could have a rest......

[Andy B]

.....
 Alternatively let them buy there own cars, and you could have a rest......

^^^ This! 

[dave the builder]

Just popped in my head 
is this the Astra that had a crash and needs a bumper swap ?
in which case, check the radiator for leaks etc

 I'm going to say this, I will be the nasty man, Terry stop buying old scrappers, that you bodge up and send your family out in, because they keep going wrong on a regular basis, the amount you've wasted in the past 12months could have bought your daughter and son a decent low mileage car each,, Alternatively let them buy there own cars, and you could have a rest......

any car, be it £500 or £50,000 will overheat if the rad cap is not tight 

and if this is the one that needs a bumper , I bet Terry is glad it's a "old scrapper" he can put a bumper on from his stock 
Terry is keeping busy and active
best of luck to him 
when I reach 80  I hope i can still fix "old scrappers"

[Sir Tigger KC]

Just popped in my head 
.....
Terry is keeping busy and active
best of luck to him 
when I reach 80  I hope i can still fix "old scrappers"

Terry's 80?     So almost as young as Lord Opti and Uncle STEMO!