I was wondering if any of you guys may be able to help me diagnose a problem I have with my daily runner.
I?ve got an 1997 citroen zx 1.4 petrol. Recently Its been getting a bit hot ? and I noticed the water level was a bit low so I topped this up with anti freeze/water.
However ? since this its still been getting hot. Some of the symptoms include:
When out of traffic and cruising along ? the temperature needle is above the normal operating temperature and seems to fluctuate getting quite uncomfortably hot before returning to a cooler temp. This seems to happen randomly out of traffic.
The interior fan seems to blow cool air regardless of the above - even when on the hottest setting.
Could it be a faulty thermostat?
Air lock perhaps?
Up until I?ve noticed these problems Its been fault free ? I don?t think this is electrical.
I am going to change the water and oil this weekend ? I was also wondering if it?s imperative you vacuum fill the system on these to prevent air pockets as the Haynes manual describes using an empty bottle with an ?O? Ring to vacuum fill the radiator while the engine is running?
Thanks!
Edited by Pugugly. on 24/02/2008 at 10:31
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Hi pb63,
I have been having similar problems with my 1993 Citroen ZX recently and have been diagnosing since, but I have found a few things which have helped greatly. Firstly, let me start with my symptoms and what I have done so far....
December
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Car overheating when idling, quite rapidly. Generating tonnes of heat inside - toasty warm
Solution
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(Well this seemed to work) I opened the bonnet only to find that the air intake to be detached from the engine (probably because of a rogue speed hump) - I replaced it and that seemed to work....
January
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Car vastly overheating. When at low speeds would overheat very, very quickly, especially idle, when at high speeds engine would run cool.
No heating inside of the car unless travelling at high speed - and even then, not that hot.
Solution
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I changed the oil, oil filter, air filter, and flushed the radiator. I then added Rad Flush to the radiator and ran it for 2 weeks (with a little anti-freeze too)
This seemed to resolve the extreme temps, but it was still running a little higher than expected...
Feb
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Car still seemingly overheating - but not vastly so (as compared to what's normal), heaters inside the car are a little more warm, but not hugely warm.
Solution
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We removed the thermostat, and now the engine runs super, super cool, no matter what. There's not a lot of heat inside the car because of this though
...
This is still an ongoing saga, though, it's quite a learning experience for myself :-) To clarify though, this is what you should try.
1. Flush your radiator, add water and rad flush, run it for a day (50 miles) on it. Flush again and refill, see if there's a difference
2. Re-flush the radiator and hopefully you notice a little more water coming out of the radaitor this time. Flush a couple of more times and then finally re-fill and see the results.
3. Replace the Thermostat - or simply remove it if you don't care much about the heating inside
4. There could be issues with the water pump, get a garage to test whether it's working correctly.
5. If all else fails there still could be numerous other reasons for your symptoms occurring, but garages will say that it's a Cylinder Head Gasket problem - check your oil filler cap for any 'white gunk' if there's lots there, it could indicate a head gasket issue, if only a tiny bit, wipe off and re-test after 2 weeks of travel on it.
For refilling your radiator, just refill it as usual and then to remove any airlocks or any excess air, before you start the engine in the morning, release the radiator cap, it'll expel any excess air - do it for 5-6 days, and the system should be clear.
Hope this helps!
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