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[Sir Tigger KC]

Hi All,

On a run to Cornwall at the weekend all was fine, stopped at the services for 15 mins and when I turned on the ignition the temp gauge went straight to red!!  So I popped the bonnet and all seemed fine... it started OK and the temp returned to normal...  So I carried on and the temp stayed OK.

Checked it over before I headed back and all seemed fine, but after half an hour got the 'low coolant' message, so I pulled over and sure enough I had a leak from under the front nearside and not much in the bottle!! I topped her up and nursed her home, but the temp was getting hot when at lights etc, but OK when cruising.

I needed the car today, so I put a bottle of radweld in which has stopped the leak, the temps a bit hot (90-95) when cruising, but it quickly heats up when I come into town and hit traffic and lights etc, but also comes down when I get going again!  Also the fans seem to be OK!

Apart from the temp, it seems to run OK and ticks over happily.....

Would this be the water pump on its way out?  The cars just tipped 190000 miles and I'm not sure its ever been changed!! :-/

Any advice, as always appreciated....

[Sir Tigger KC]

Just read a post from TB about the eco button, and he mentioned big bills......

I keep mine in eco mode all the time, but thought I'd give the AC a whirl on sat...... Could this be the cause of my troubles??  :-/

[Markjay]

If you had a low coolant message, then you are loosing coolant...

There are many possible reasons, which are not unique to the Omega, among which are a split hose somehwere, leaking/blocked rad, failing water pump, and even blown headgasket.

But a common weakness on AC models is the Heater Bypass Valve (HBV) which a plastic thingy and when it fails it can leak when the AC is on, causing massive coolant loss. It costs around £30 and can be repaced DIY, check the Maintenance Guides for more info.

[Sir Tigger KC]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the reply, but the leak was coming from the front and was dripping from above the drain tap on the near side. The HBV is at the rear of the motor.....

Anyway, I stopped the leak with radweld (Not ideal...I know!) and done 250 mostly M/W  miles today but its stilll over heating when in traffic...

[Markjay]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the reply, but the leak was coming from the front and was dripping from above the drain tap on the near side. The HBV is at the rear of the motor.....

Anyway, I stopped the leak with radweld (Not ideal...I know!) and done 250 mostly M/W  miles today but its stilll over heating when in traffic...

Must have been the rad then? Well the sticky-tape method of using Radweld might hold it all together for a while, but probably not for very much longer...?

[Sir Tigger KC]

Yes you're right about the radweld, its a bodge I know, but it got me through today

I was thinking that it may be the waterpump on its way out, as it overheats when moving slowly or stopped, but then other times it will happily tick over...

But now I'm wondering what are the consquences of only rarely using the AC, after seeing TB's post earlier

[KillerWatt]

But now I'm wondering what are the consquences of only rarely using the AC, after seeing TB's post earlier

Our neighbour had our CDX for 3 years before we got it off him, and in that time he never once used the AC (because it had no gas in it when he bought the car).

Consequences for us were that I had to fix a mates daughters PC in exchange for getting a regas for free.

The journey home was nice & cool...the large bill was from BT, and the funny smell was because the cat had puked on the kitchen floor

[Sir Tigger KC]

Heh Heh Nice one!!

Don't think that there's any gas in my AC  , but not sure that a re-gas will solve my overheating probs  

But if I could fix my mates PC daughter I'd give it a go..