engine overheat... Need help

[Indigo]

while waiting for rescue from AAS, i decided to post this. Engine overheated while traveling along aye towards jurong. Stopped now at shell station opposite the formal tang dynasty. Suspect coolant container burst. Not sure why. Been driving the whole afternoon.

Question = any idea how much the damage will be if to send this back to cnc? Any advice is much appreaciated.

[voyager]

hello Indigo,

do you actually see steam coming out from the engine bay?

or is it just the needle going higher and the warning from the display?

[Indigo]

steam came out from engine bay, 'stop' warning light came off. Tried top up water but noticed the water is leaking out from the bottom of the car almost immediately. Now the car is in cnc. Hopefully engine is ok. Just praying that it won't cost a bomb & too much down time.

Just wondering anyone had the similar experience. (can't find any similar thread here) guess it is just my luck & not bcoz of common unreliability issue with the car. I still like this car.

[voyager]

thank you for taking the time to update, Indigo.

i am really sorry for the stress.

[Indigo]

Received a call from CNC this morning at 8:30am to ask me what happened to my car. Told them what happened & I was told that they will get back to me when technician had looked into the problem. Just called an hour ago to check the status, but was told that the technicians are too busy attending to all the customers with bookings. I'm not even sure if i will be able to find out what really went wrong with the car, let alone collecting it today.

So, i am wondering if i should have it towed to Thomas instead? anybody has any suggestion? Thank you!

[apdrive]

this may make you feel like crap, but for the benefit of others here...

if you get stranded by the road, as in hissing and steam coming out...... DO NOT TOP UP with water on the spot! you have to wait till it cools... the cold water can damage the gaskets and engine internals

even if there is no steam, to play safe should not top up with water.

let me know if you still feel like finding out what the possible causes are of the overheating in the 1st place, although these can be googled easily

[Indigo]

thanks for the advice. I really didn't know that.

To update all, i finally collected the car today. The root cause of the problem is leaking or cracked water pipe connecting coolant inlet to radiator. The damage?

1. Replace water pipe
2. Replace water inlet hose
3. Replace thermo starter
4. Connector to the above parts
5. Strap to tighten the connectors
6. Coolant liquid

total cost = below $300 (after some negotiation to get additional 10% for the parts)
reason given = wear & tear. Not able to recommend on servicing or maintenance schedule for the pipes. It sounds like its pure luck. Any comment?

[auto_emocion]

indigo, how old is ur car?

[Indigo]

registered dec 05

[auto_emocion]

registered dec 05

When the car hits 3rd year, have all the rubber hoses checked regularly and replaced if possible.

[apdrive]

do you periodically check your coolant level in the reserve tank?

level below 'MIN' mark will give you some clue that there is a leak, and preclude further damage, especially core over-pressure (worst damage besides block crack).

thanks for the advice. I really didn't know that.

To update all, i finally collected the car today. The root cause of the problem is leaking or cracked water pipe connecting coolant inlet to radiator. The damage?

1. Replace water pipe
2. Replace water inlet hose
3. Replace thermo starter
4. Connector to the above parts
5. Strap to tighten the connectors
6. Coolant liquid

total cost = below $300 (after some negotiation to get additional 10% for the parts)
reason given = wear & tear. Not able to recommend on servicing or maintenance schedule for the pipes. It sounds like its pure luck. Any comment?

[Indigo]

Hi apdrive, I may not periodically check the coolant level. But for my case, i also drove the car on the same day in the afternoon before i attended an appointment in Sentosa in the evening & left for Jurong at abt 11pm. It happened abt 25mins after i left Sentosa & the coolant level was empty.

I suspect is that the water pipe wasn't leaking prior to this but rather burst on my way back from Sentosa & caused the sudden dropped in coolant level. For now, i am glad that the damage wasn't too bad.

Aside to auto_emocion,
do you have any recommendation on how regular i should have the rubber hoses checked? Thanks!

[auto_emocion]

apart from the regular engine servicing, bring your car to your fav mechanic annually, lubricate the undercarriage, CV boot..etc.

I noticed my C5-III's engine bay's temp is rather high as compared to other similar class vehicles, I reckon to inspect the hose ever year if you've replaced with the normal black coloured ones.

[apdrive]

for all our cars, we usually replace the hoses with quality silicon ones (NOT Mishimoto or Autobahn or Simota please!) when there are signs that replacement is due.

Problem is that companies like Samco (world leader in automotive silicon hoses) don't have kits for your Citroens. We've worked with Samco in the past to do some special pieces before, but it was really tedious for me because they are a big company and need to allocate their resources appropriately.

If anyone is keen, one of our strongest principals is RD, and we use RD hoses on our TA car too!

[markfer1]

for all our cars, we usually replace the hoses with quality silicon ones (NOT Mishimoto or Autobahn or Simota please!) when there are signs that replacement is due.

Problem is that companies like Samco (world leader in automotive silicon hoses) don't have kits for your Citroens. We've worked with Samco in the past to do some special pieces before, but it was really tedious for me because they are a big company and need to allocate their resources appropriately.

If anyone is keen, one of our strongest principals is RD, and we use RD hoses on our TA car too!

Hi bro,

I am not sure are you a workshop but if you are, maybe you can consider coming up with a RD hose replacement package for various model of Citroen car that you are familiar. This way, if any bro are keen to replace all these hose at one go will know where to go liao. If you are not from workshop, maybe you can share with us where to get those RD hoses.

Thanks :)

[apdrive]

sorry didnt see this earlier...

well, we would need a donor car, and it might not be 100% successful (we tried with an e90 320i, there were too many concealed hoses and couplings).

plus silicon hoses are not cheap, although some of the OE rubber hoses are blardy expensive too!!!

our tech partner NHMotor and JDAuto handles all the workshop services (my office is co-located), so their mechanics will be the ones to do the 'handi-work'. We handle the proprietary design and liaising with the suppliers/companies/raceteams, in this case RD:

http://www.racetechdesign.com/index_files/Page652.htm

http://www.racetechdesign.com/index_files/Page378.htm