Cooling system exploads!!! HELP!

[i-espedair]

Did a long journey a couple of weeks ago (400m) and noticed when i got back i was lacking some coolant! The level had dropped about half inch. Didn't worry too much and thought "I'll top it up on the weekend" (Was on, but not below the min level).

Drove down to Brighton to the speed trials a couple of days later and the car over heated while waiting to get in the NCP car park! Temp hit 120'C, warning light came on. I turned all the heaters on to cool the engine down, parked, let the pressure out of the system and filled it up to the line with Evian!

I drove home no prob and have used the car for a few short journeys but i have been away alot with my job and haven't had a chance to look at it until tonight. I took it out for a bit of a thrashing to get the engine nice and hot and then brought it home and left it ticking over for a while. I have noticed abit of a burning smell coming from the engine bay since the first overheating, kinda like castrol oil burning or plastic. Presumed i have a hose problem. Anyway, sure enough the car starts to over heat the coolant bottle fills right up and starts pissing coolant out of the side!!!

I have again filled it back up to the mark with Evian. I think there is maybe a problem with either the thermerstat valve being jamed shut or the water pump not working right, or, maybe a blockage in the system somewhere. What do you guys think?

Also, at no point during any of this did the radiator fan come on, which suprised me, is this right?

And does the bottle have an over flow, hence water pissing out the side, or is it just split coz i'm guessing i'm gonna need a new one of those too???

Please help me, am with out my car!!!

[modulater]

Check the thermoswitch on the right hand side on the radiator, this switches the fan on at the right temperature. Unplug it , put an open paper clip across the connectors, this should make the fan spin, if it doesn't then the fan motor has gone.

[i-espedair]

Need the car asap, tis my daily runner and i have to use it for work to travel to clients! I am an IT consultant before you ask!

Had to get it into the main dealer this morning. Fortunately i am sleeping with the girl on the servicing desk so she is gonna see what she can do regarding labour costs!

I think it is the thermostat! Maybe the waterpump. But is has damaged lots of hoses and the bottle as well. I know these can be expensive, anyone have any idea how expensive?

Would have liked to have sorted it myself but couldn't wait until the weekend!

[adyh]

Ouch , i can feel the heat from your wallet now  

[i-espedair]

Ok wasn't so bad for a main dealer. Thanx to my female contact it only cost me ?50. They fixed it straight away this morning and i just picked it up this afternoon. They have replaced a couple of blown hoses and a fuse for the rad fan which wasn't working. They seem to think this was the problem. They performed a pressure check and a blue fluid blockage check. After 30min at 1bar the pressure only dropped 0.1bar. They think the system is fine but i still think it is running too hot.

I can still smell something odd and the fan seems to come on after 10 minutes driving and a couple of minutes of ticking over?

Is this right? I'm sure it wasn't this hot before!

[modulater]

It sounds ok to me, the fan will kick in when your standing still as you getting heat soak. I've had cooling problems before and even when you fix them you are always paranoid it is happening. give it a couple of weeks and see what happens