PLEASE PLEASE HELP!

[depala]

Hi Im really sorry if i sound really silly but im not really good at cars at all.

My car today got really hot and the temperature signal went to 110.

and then suddendly steam started coming out from the bonnet.

A man was walking by and he helped me and said that my fans not working at all.

I was getting late so i just parked on the side and took the bus.

Now this was in the morning.

Just 20mins ago i went to get my car as i thought it will be cooled down and well i just took a big bottle of water incase i need to fill it up, which i did.

The thing is i put normal tap water in the car

Also i dont really know about cars but i put the water in that round circle box.

While i was on the internet i been hearing something about coolant???

wat is this?

and have i done something wrong by putting normal tap water???

All i wanted to do was bring my car home which i did but wen i was approaching home the temperature signal was getting high again but i made it.

please advice anyone!!!

thanks

[pettsy]

I've used water in the past just to get vehicles home, but its not ideal,coolant is much better to use.

It could be a number of things that are faulty, but if your fan isn't working then that will cause the car to overheat.


You say you're not very mechanically minded,Where abouts are you located? There may be a member who's local to you who could help out with fault finding?

[al_kaholik]

Coolant increases the boiling and freezing point of the water in the cooling system of the car. This means that as well as being higher, because of the pressure in the system, the coolant will not boil as the engine termperature increases above 100 degrees C.

Get the fan looked at and have the coolant system drained, flushed and refilled with the correct amount of coolant fulid (antifreeze) to water ratio

[depala]

thanks guyz!

yep im going to go on monday and have it checked out!

can you just tell me rough ideas what i should be looking to hear cause i no nothing about cars and i know ill get ripped off!

Im just glad i found this site!

How much maximun if there is a major fault am i looking to spend?

please reply, thanks for the help!

[SpikeyG40]

on honesty, if a garage can identify the problem quickly without just changing a number of items, it shouldn't work out too costly! at worst i'd say it could be the fan motor or the thermostatic switch. or even a fuse. None of them are too expensive. a new motor is £30ish i believe, and a thermostatic switch is around £7. there are ways of checking if its the switch but hopefully the garage should know these!

at worst, when the coolant boils, it can make the headgasket go. which is not good. would mean having a fair amount of the engine apart and would be fairly costly. a gasket is something which goes between two metal surfaces and seals them. if a headgasket goes, the seal is broken and your oil can sometimes mix with the coolant. This is of course, worst case senario!

oh, and a little pointer, when an engine is hot, do not remove the lid to the coolant bottle. when the water gets hot, it expanse and pressurises the system. removing the lid will release the pressure by spraying out boiling hot water out all over you! not nice!

[depala]

thanks dough for the detailed explaination.

I was just waiting for something like dat!

kool im taking my car to the garage tomorow and i will check those things out.

Dough i had the head gasket skimmed or something last year but would it happen again. and yes it did cost abit.

also yesterday wen i went to pick my car up as i said there was steam coming out from the coolant compartment cause it was boiling hot, after there was no water in there. i added some to get home.

but does that mean that the water that came out before probably went in the engine? OMG if it did dat mean the head gasket will go right? But it didnt go inside the engine it was just poping out as it was hot.

but i dont know if there are connection between the engine and the coolant thing.

wat do u think

[SpikeyG40]

if the gasket is a year old, it will probably be ok! i was going for a worst case senario there!

if there was a problem with the headgasket, you wouldn't get a great deal of water go in, in a short period of time. the best thing you can do is to check your oil. you do this by pulling out the orange/yellow ring which is just above the engine on the left hand side. its called the dipstick (sorry, i don't no what your level of engine knowledge is so appologies if i'm going too basic). pull it out and a long stick will come out. at the bottom of this is dipped in the oil and the main idea behind it is to check your engine oil level. when oil and water mix, it makes a white creamy stuff. if there is any of this on the dipstick, it could be the headgasket has gone. if its just black or oily coloured then it should be ok! then put the dipstick back in!

that is a very basic way to check without actually draining the oil. Hopefully that will give you an idea anyway!

If your keeping the car for a little while and want to learn more, it might be worth buy (if you haven't already) a haynes manual. As well as these books giving details of how to overhaul the complete car, at the front, they also give information about weekly checks etc and a general overview of the car! might be worth a look to give you some idea of what your looking at!

Oh, and forgot to mention, welcome to the forum!

[al_kaholik]

Also check for the mayo type substance under the oil filler cap. Thermostatic switches are £13 including VAT from VW - I just got one! Leaks in the cooland system can also make the cooland boil because it isn't pressurised any more (the pressure increases the boiling temperature) The polo is nice and easy to work on, grab a Haynes manual and a basic tool kit and you can do loads

[depala]

thanks soooooooooo much!

dont worry u guyz are just talking on my level!

i dont no nothing and i think ive found the best online garage online (uk-polo.net)

ive checked jus now lol and yep theres no creamy stuff or mayo looking stuff in the dip stick or in the oil part.

im going to go tommorow and buy a haynez book like u said!

anyways thanks alot, learnt quite abit today!:)

[SpikeyG40]

mayo type stuff is a much better way of describing it haha

Good luck buddy, make sure you let us know how you get on! and if you need anymore info! don't hesitate to ask!

[depala]

Hey guy just need your help again!

Sorry about this!

I went to the garage and the guy said it will be £80.

He said he will put a new thermostat and he was saying he will release some pressure or something

He showed me to pipes and told me to touch them. one was really hot and one was cold. he said there is no circulation flowing and thats why im getting the problem.

Also he said by sorting that out i wont need to change the fan.

He will take all the old water out and top it up will coolant.

Im not sure if he is coning me but its sooo hard to beleive these mechanics and the thing is i cant drive it far to someone else as the car just gets too hot and steams.

BTW guys i ordered a haynes manual yesterday it should hopefully come tommorow!

Please let me know about the above, infact i have no choice now as i given it to him to do!

Also i mentioned to him that sometimes the new thermostat can be faulty and what happens if it is. He said it comes with 1 years warranty.

I just told him that cause i read on the website about few faulty new thermostat!

Anyways ill keep u informed

[al_kaholik]

The work he describes I've just done on mine, it really isn't difficult for a beginner to do The coolant and the thermostat would probably cost you say £5 for 1.5litres coolant, thermostat and sealing ring, about the same. Then around half an hour to do the work. If you had haynes and a very basic tool kit its easy.

[depala]

damb, dat meanz i been ripped!

Aw well itz my own fault i start worrying too much.

Anyways ive ordered the haynes manual, should come 2moro hopefully

from now on ill look in there first lol

[pettsy]

damb, dat meanz i been ripped!

not really,when you consider the labour charge and materials.

[SpikeyG40]

damb, dat meanz i been ripped!

not really,when you consider the labour charge and materials.

would agree with you there! and you pay a price for peice of mind!