Water thing by engine boiling over. Any ideas?

[Merlin4458]

Terrible with cars but my old corsa is reaching over 100 degrees on temp gage causing smoke to come from the bonet.

The part which holds the water (im guessing to cool the engine) is bubbling and extreemly hot. The car wont go above 50 and broke down twice on the way home.

Am i right in thinking its the thermostat or radiator??


My main question is, does it sound like its going to be cheap to fix as ive spent too much on it as it is.

A rough cost? 50 quid? 200 quid?

Thanks all

[TAKTAK]

has the water pump gone?

[megah0]

What does the water look like?

Clear or gunky?

[Merlin4458]

clear. I refilled it with freezing cold water at petrol station and it boiled in under 2 mins. Its better than a kettle. Water is clear, apart from when i first opened it and it smelt horrible

[Zak33]

OK, from the top.

That's the EXPANSION tank....it holds the EXCESS water and allows it to keep the radiator full if the car used any small amount of water, which it should not. When the car get's hot while you drive the water EXPANDS into this tank, and that puts in under pressure, so you should nt take the lid off when it's running or red hot until it's stodd for a few minutes.

HOWEVER...it should NEVER boil.

If it is letting the steam out and boiling over, you've probably blown a HEAD GASKET, which in itself is not an expensive part, but which involves taking the cylinder head off and may involve the head needing to be examined by xray to see if it's cracked and also to be skimmed (very mildly ground on a special workshop tool) to make it dead flat again if it's warped fractionally.

What's prolly just happened is the head gaskets blown, and needs changing.

Prices vary from £100 to £500 according to waht needs doing.

[Merlin4458]

:-( shame, ive spent 400 pound already this year on it, and its prob worth about 150/200. corsa 1.2 LS M reg.

No more driving for me until after uni

Thanks all

[Zak33]

well, with that engine it prolly IS a head gasket and prolyl WONT need any head work,

If you wanna risk it, and its prolly worth it, get a garage to just change the head gasket and change the water/anti freeze and oil at the same time,

Cost should be around £125 for the lot.

[shaithis]

Or find a friend who has a torque wrench and doesn't mind getting himself mucky.

I always found vauxhalls a complete breeze to work on, could end up costing you a gasket (dirt cheap) and a few bears

[Zak33]

could end up costing you a gasket (dirt cheap) and a few bears