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Hi there, I haven't posted for a while, but my car is in a bit of a state right now...

The engine was running quite oddly about 2 months ago - it lost a bit of power and the idle speed was a bit jumpy, but when the weather got colder this problem disappeared, so I ignored it.

More recently it has warmed up a bit and has been very wet and I was driving the otherday, only to glance at the temperature guage which was maxed out!! Also the heating had stopped working - the blowers would only blow cold air....
I drove it again yesterday and there was still no hot air and about 10 mins into the drive, the temperature guage was reading boiling again, I also noticed that the idle speed had gone right up to 2500 revs..?!

Anyone know whats up here? I don't know if the two problems are linked, but I am going to put some more water in and try starting the car now, to see if theres any difference...

get some prestone lol or maybe your head gasket is blown... that sucks

Does the engine actually get really hot when the temp gauge is maxed? If not, replace your coolant temperature sensor(s). Or maybe your thermostat is stuck closed.

Mad Cow wrote:Or maybe your thermostat is stuck closed.

Ya, I'm thinking the same thing...

Cool, i will check that now....The day it happened and the heating broke it was very wet and I was driving through semi-floods.

OK, I just filled it up with coolant and water and started her up again and it ran ok, but it squealed very loundly after about a minute... I left it running for about another minute and when I switched the engine off I heard dripping, so I check what was dripping from the engine and it seems like a very thin oil type liquid - like a mixture of water and oil....anyone know what the hell this is? I thought a coolant pipe might have broken, but when I felt the liquid its too oily to be just water....

TheBlackMoth wrote:OK, I just filled it up with coolant and water and started her up again and it ran ok, but it squealed very loundly after about a minute... I left it running for about another minute and when I switched the engine off I heard dripping, so I check what was dripping from the engine and it seems like a very thin oil type liquid - like a mixture of water and oil....anyone know what the hell this is? I thought a coolant pipe might have broken, but when I felt the liquid its too oily to be just water....

coolant is kind of oily to the touch... you might have a coolant hose leaking... where was the leak???

Could be anything in the coolant system. Clogged hosery, Rad, heater core, broken pump...the leaky could be a bad hose seal or a bad gasket... what colour is the fluid? yellow/green?

Thanks for the quick response, I couldnt see exactly where it was coming from, but its a kind of yellow/browny colour...

hm, it could be many things, as many things are brown-y, including burnt coolant. But so is oil. tranny fluid is reddish, brake/clutch is blackish (right?)

How much coolant do you lose per mile? Stop every ten miles, and see if it's low.

Given the fact is was over heating, surely its most likely to be burnt coolant no? I think there must be a bad leak, as about 1/4 of a litre came out in the space of less than a minute...

Is there any oil in your coolant?

1. If your coolant is low or if you have a air lock fluid may not get to your TB so the sensor will think the engines cold and keep the revs up.
2. No fluid means "no heat" and a quickly over heating engine.
3. Fluid under car sounds big time like anti freeze.
The End

Do a compression test. Can you pinpoint where the liquid emanates?