Overheating

Hi all,so bought a TF 160 a month ago,drove it home 300 miles,all good.Its 82k,had head done at 60k,stainless pipes,new belts,full service history.
On my third drive,arrived home,heard a gurgling sound,and coolant on driveway,temp gauge had risen,got it switched off.Tank was nearly empty,refilled next day,and it ticked over for an hour with no problem.
After a 10 mile drive it started overheating again,coolant right up to top of tank.Left it in & mechanic retorqued head.Water pump & radiators good.
Now it's driving fine BUT is overheating on idle,as soon as you drive it,it cools down to normal.
No mayo in oil,coolant clean,mechanic wants to do the head now,I'm not convinced,would appreciate any input,many thanks

Hi Al welcome to the forum. Regarding the over heating problem try a new header tank cap first. See how that goes and report back to let us know.


:beer: :beer: Steve

Hi, is the radiator fan kicking in?
Check the rad fuse has not blown, it is under the bonnet.

Collecting that later,that's my hope too👍.Thanks

Yes it's working,thanks

could be just a small hole in pipe. This pinhole would dump a header tanks wirth of coolant in just a few minutes once it was at temperature

I've tried a new cap,still overheating at idle but driving fine,fan is on.Its not a leak because it's rising up the tank,not going anywhere else.
So totally stuck now?

Try replacing the header tank cap, they're the first thing to check

If its rising up and filling the tank its an air lock somewhere i would say.

I had the same problem, no mayo or oil in coolant / coolant in oil, it was the head gasket leaking into number 1 cylinder burning off but pressurising the system hence the expansion bottle filling, didn't show up on a sniff rest either, finally found by Jon Norris from rough luck with an endoscope.

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Yes that certainly sounds like a possibility.

Make sure mechanic is aware that there are three bleed points and all need to be done in sequence, often several times.


Edit: the three bleed points are shown at end of this how-to https://www.the-t-bar.com/forum/22-cjjs-guides/401-coolant-system-how-to-fill-and-bleed

If after bleeding several times you still see the same issue then, yes it is likely you have a combustion gas -> water leak in the gasket.

Reading back on your earlier post, re-torquing the head is generally not recommended too often unless you refit new bolts, but just once probably won't be an issue. Do you know what gasket was fitted MLS etc, were the dowells replaced if plastic? And was the underlying problem that lead to previous HTC diagnosed?

If not, or incorrect bleeding was done after the head gasket swap then failure again is very likely?

Also, was head checking for softeninng (a fairly common problem if significant overheating took place) if the head has gone soft no amount of tightening down will solve things.

Would this allow the car to drive at normal temperature and only overheat when ticking over?
I've done 3 40-50 mile runs since Wednesday and it's fine until it's back in the driveway ticking over.
I know I'm probably in denial,just annoying as one of the major reasons for buying the car was that all head work had been done!!