[DaveJ]

Hello all,

my wife had to abandon her scenic the other day due to it overheating - she switched it off when the red light on the dash came on!

Anyway, it is a 1.6. I have had a look at it and am hopeful the head gasket is still OK. When I start it and let it start to get warm (hot) two things I have noticed - the top hose from the radiator does not get hot (or hard) and the cooling fan never seems to cut in?

So, do these things have a flow switch to activate the cooling fan, would a knackered thermostat cause these problems? Where and how can I short across teh cooling fan to check it works? (the fuses for it are fine).

I have pulled the top hose off and flushed the radiator and it appears water flows round the rad and system, so I don't think it is a blocked rad.

Cheers all.

DaveJ

 

[madnoel10]

Overheating

No heat getting to the top hose would suggest a duff thermostat - this would cause the engine to overheat but the hot water is not reaching the fan sensor. I don't know exactly where the fan sensor is on your model but it is likely to be screwed into the radiator. By disconnecting the plug going into it and joining the cable connectors with a piece of wire the fan should run. Take care as the fan can start suddenly and caue injury if you are not careful.

 

[DaveJ]

Thanks MN!

There is another connector on the Rad just below the air conditioning condensor/refill thing. Will try bridging that.

DaveJ

 

[Lagdti]

Any news DaveJ?

 

[DaveJ]

Better late than never!

Sorry I never got round to replying to this, but if it helps anyone else in the future.....

This indeed truned out to be a duff thermostat. The flow switch in the raidator worked but the thermostat was not opening properly to activate it - hence why my top hose never warmed up me thinks.

I ran it around with no stat in at all for a while at it never overheated so replaced the thermostat eventually.

I think that this problem was exacerbated by the fact that there was little antifreeze in the system and lots of rust and gunk came out when I back flushed the rad etc. So keep your antifreeze topped up year round to prevent to much rust!

HTH somebody else somewhere

DaveJ