Mechanics help required please.

Today i took the car for a ride to my hardware toy store. On the way the temp gauge went from normal to high and the screen told me “engine overheating, idle speed only”. Two minutes the temp gauge went back to normal. On the way home , within five minutes the temp gauge went off again. Limped it home, turned it off and the fan kept running to cool the engine , i think. When cooled i checked the oil, all ok, checked the coolant and found it was dry, i.e. the stick had no moisture on it whatsoever. I had the waterpump, thermostat and hoses replaced in February and I gave them 5 litres of coolant. They said they “ bled” the system with my coolant but there is no sign on the invoice showing a charge for another 5 litre of coolant. There is no sign of leakage on the garage floor or driveway and nothing on a friends driveway whom i visited on Saturday. Any ideas where this coolant has gone- evaporated or wasn’t topped up in February? I am stumped. Cheers Mackka

Mackka said:

Today i took the car for a ride to my hardware toy store. On the way the temp gauge went from normal to high and the screen told me “engine overheating, idle speed only”. Two minutes the temp gauge went back to normal. On the way home , within five minutes the temp gauge went off again. Limped it home, turned it off and the fan kept running to cool the engine , i think. When cooled i checked the oil, all ok, checked the coolant and found it was dry, i.e. the stick had no moisture on it whatsoever. I had the waterpump, thermostat and hoses replaced in February and I gave them 5 litres of coolant. They said they “ bled” the system with my coolant but there is no sign on the invoice showing a charge for another 5 litre of coolant. There is no sign of leakage on the garage floor or driveway and nothing on a friends driveway whom i visited on Saturday. Any ideas where this coolant has gone- evaporated or wasn’t topped up in February? I am stumped. Cheers Mackka

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Hate to say it but no coolant and no external leak means it is your head gasket

fill up the coolant and if the engine starts check your exhaust for steam.

if it doesnt want to turn over dont keep trying, you will have a cylinder full of water.

also are you just checking just the radiator overflow tank or the radiator itself.

Need to check the radiator. But wait until eng is cool since if hot it will be under pressure and you will get burnt.

Also check oil after refilling radiator and waiting a couple of hours. if oil level excessively high or oil is milky or water droplets on stick then also have head gasket leak into sump.

All of those are dire symptoms and car will need towing to mechanic.

If you drive it with a blown head gasket you can easily damage it terminally.

Thanks mate I will check in the morning. Cheers

Mackka said:

Thanks mate I will check in the morning. Cheers

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What sort of car is it
Could be a egr cooler gone
Cheers Gary

Holden VF

Check oil filler cap for whitish looking oil water mix also run engine at idle with that cap off if it steams its head gasket gone, also check water pump after refilling and run engine at idle only all of the above are correct, my sons commodore did a heater hose recentley and lost all coolant on a short drive

XLOOX said:

Hate to say it but no coolant and no external leak means it is your head gasket

fill up the coolant and if the engine starts check your exhaust for steam.

if it doesnt want to turn over dont keep trying, you will have a cylinder full of water.

also are you just checking just the radiator overflow tank or the radiator itself.

Need to check the radiator. But wait until eng is cool since if hot it will be under pressure and you will get burnt.

Also check oil after refilling radiator and waiting a couple of hours. if oil level excessively high or oil is milky or water droplets on stick then also have head gasket leak into sump.

All of those are dire symptoms and car will need towing to mechanic.

If you drive it with a blown head gasket you can easily damage it terminally.

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Looks for bubbles in radiator, if the car has a miss under load also is a head gasket and air escaping

Thanks folks much appreciated. Decided to get it towed to the mechanic. Cheers and Thanks

Mackka said:

Today i took the car for a ride to my hardware toy store. On the way the temp gauge went from normal to high and the screen told me “engine overheating, idle speed only”. Two minutes the temp gauge went back to normal. On the way home , within five minutes the temp gauge went off again. Limped it home, turned it off and the fan kept running to cool the engine , i think. When cooled i checked the oil, all ok, checked the coolant and found it was dry, i.e. the stick had no moisture on it whatsoever. I had the waterpump, thermostat and hoses replaced in February and I gave them 5 litres of coolant. They said they “ bled” the system with my coolant but there is no sign on the invoice showing a charge for another 5 litre of coolant. There is no sign of leakage on the garage floor or driveway and nothing on a friends driveway whom i visited on Saturday. Any ideas where this coolant has gone- evaporated or wasn’t topped up in February? I am stumped. Cheers Mackka

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If there is no water in the system gauge will not show any reading normally as it measures the temperature of the water not air.

Hopefully you haven't got a major problem Mackka, good luck with it mate.

Thanks Dave. I have it booked for a tow on Tuesday and the mechanics will look at it on Wednesday. Hopefully just a hose. Cheers Mackka

Well the saga continues but not for much longer hopefully. Got it towed to the shop and they said the radiator needs replacing. They don’t weld or solder stuff anymore and it would be ten days to get one from Melbourne. Genuine part and fitting $1,200 . Spoke to my wife, the clever one in the household, she contacted Repco and we can pick it up today for $250 which includes a discount and another discount for racq membership. Fitting will be $400 so now the total is $650 not $1,200 and happy with that.

it pays to shop around mackka
funny the mechanic said they don't solder /braze anymore
just 2 years ago i had a new core replaced on one of the tractors here at a radiator shop
$1,600.00 for a new one $900.00 for a new core and old top and bottom tanks brazed back on

We are losing so many trade skills these days in the throwaway world we live in, shame really. Stay Safe mate. Cheers

Mackka said:

Well the saga continues but not for much longer hopefully. Got it towed to the shop and they said the radiator needs replacing. They don’t weld or solder stuff anymore and it would be ten days to get one from Melbourne. Genuine part and fitting $1,200 . Spoke to my wife, the clever one in the household, she contacted Repco and we can pick it up today for $250 which includes a discount and another discount for racq membership. Fitting will be $400 so now the total is $650 not $1,200 and happy with that.

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I guess you just have to pay it Mackka but labour prices these days are shocking. If the radiator can't be replaced and tested within the hour the mechanic needs to find a job he's better suited to. My realestate agent called the locksmith to fit a deadlock that had five holes to be drilled and four screws, half an hour plus travel. The bill was over $500 but I wasn't there to do it myself.

There was a time when we had tax concessions and incentives to train apprentices and other staff but that was discontinued and now we're paying the price for just about and service you require

I hate to think what my breakdown would have cost on the Mercedes MB100D van earlier this week. Well the truth is I'd still be waiting for the repair. I had to remove the bonnet, front bumper, underbody protection, headlights and park lights, air-con condenser, radiator and shroud, coolant bottle, serpentine belt and tensioner using the iPhone held between my teeth for light. Then I had to source parts and reassemble it. There's no way I'd be out of there within the week and I'd need some serious maintenance on my credit card. As it worked out I'm out of pocket for something near $57 and instead of driving out at 5:00pm I didn't get away until 12:30 the following day.

Moneybox said:

There was a time when we had tax concessions and incentives to train apprentices and other staff but that was discontinued and now we're paying the price for just about and service you require

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I assume it was the same in other states, WA used to train thousands in Telecom, State Energy Corp, Water Authority and many others.

Even TAFE seems to be a poor shadow of its former self.


Good to hear the car is fixed Makka and it wasn't something like a head gasket.

Thanks Phil and mate I am more than happy to pay a reasonable price to have stuff fixed but sometimes I feel like I am being screwed. Not only me but everyone else that deals with these companies. Anyway, as previously mentioned i bought a new radiator from Repco, just got back from picking it up and dropping it to the mechanic workshop and so hopefully i can pick up my car tomorrow with a bit of luck. Cheers and glad everything worked out for you. Knowledge is a great asset.

Mackka said:

Thanks Phil and mate I am more than happy to pay a reasonable price to have stuff fixed but sometimes I feel like I am being screwed. Not only me but everyone else that deals with these companies. Anyway, as previously mentioned i bought a new radiator from Repco, just got back from picking it up and dropping it to the mechanic workshop and so hopefully i can pick up my car tomorrow with a bit of luck. Cheers and glad everything worked out for you. Knowledge is a great asset.

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Just put a recon gear box and transfer case in a fuso canter
10k exchange 4.5k deposit encase mine can't be rebuilt 1.5k for fitting in the Pilbara funny enough the labour was the cheap part
Cheers Gary

the bloke that done the tractor radiator does all the coolant work for the cane locos
walk into his shed in north bundy mate and you are tripping over jobs everywhere
he reckons he could put on 3 workers and still not catch up with the work
but there lies the problem a lot of the young people these days don't like to do manual work

I’m just curious Mackka as to how they diagnosed your radiator as leaking / needing replacement. They would have had to add coolant / water and probably start the engine to determine where it was leaking from..... upper or lower tank or core. Unless they saw an obvious crack in the plastic tank/s . If the engine was started and ran ok with no misfiring or rough idle, they may have assumed that the head gasket/s weren’t compromised.
Quite often after a serious overheating event, the leak that caused it is rectified and all seems well for awhile, then down the track you can have symptoms of head gasket failure, like rough running on cold starts, steam coming out the exhaust even after the engine has warmed to operating temperature, which will drop the coolant level in your radiator. (Similar to a kettle boiling away on the stove will end up dry).
So if everything seems hunky dory after the radiator is replaced, I suggest you monitor for these signs regularly after you return to using the car. Especially check the coolant level often.
I hope this scenario never occurs in your situation, but as a ex road service patrol of 35 years I came across this exact issue many times.
All the best mate...