OH s**t: Coolant flows freely.. at 70mph

[Noddy]

When I bought my car the coolant temperature sensor was broken, so the other day I bit the bullet and went to the stealer and bought a new one for £25.

Earlier tonight I drained the whole cooling system, rinsed it out, fitted the new coolant temperature sensor and refilled the coolant system.

I then took the Polo for a drive and got about 5 minutes away from my house when a temperature warning light began flashing on the dash. At that exact moment I was flying along at 70mph on my local dual carriageway.

I pulled over at a bus stop about 10 seconds after the light first began blinking, popped open the bonnet and jumped outta the car. The second I got out of the car I saw thick steam rising from under the bonnet

I opened the bonnet and a cloud of thick white steam billowed out. Immediately I could see the problem: THE COOLANT TEMPERATURE SENSOR HAD POPPED OUT OF ITS SOCKET, LETTING THE COOLANT GUSH FREELY ALL OVER THE DUAL CARRIAGEWAY.

f**k

So i've walked home and i'm going to go back up to the car in 30 minutes or so to replace the coolant, the sensor and see if its ok. My question is - will I have damaged my engine permenantly?

[pettsy]

fingers crossed that as you didn't drive too far with the light on,that there was actually soem coolant left in the engine

[Noddy]

Well to update this thread..

I got back to the car, reseated the coolant temperature sensor and made sure that the retaining clip was securely in place Then I let it idle for 10 minutes and thank christ, there were no leaks and the temperature sensor began to work.

I then went for a quick spin back down the dual carriageway and the engine temp didn't fluctuate much - just stayed around 90.

However, when I got home I noticed that the radiator fan wasn't running and that some parts of my radiator were glowing red with heat. Do you think my fan is screwed? I only ask since the fan's electircal connectors are directly opposite the coolant temp sensor and may have had loads of coolant spilled over them?

Just as I get one problem fixed another three start up

[16vTej]

make sure u dont have air in the cooling system by squeezing the pipes runnin from the rad...

leave the car to idle for a while and the temp shud stick to 90 but the fan shud come on after a while...in this cold weather it may take some revving to get the fan to come on tho