Ba T Overheating...sort Of

[Dush73]

Hi all,

I have noticed the last couple weeks(I know its a bit warmer now) the temp gauge on my stock BA T gets to the half way mark within 15 mins of driving, the thermo's kick in(& don't turn off) & the gauge pretty much stays on half(although my trips are usually no longer than 20 mins so I don't know if it would go any higher than that if driven further). The only time the thermo's would kick in the past is on a hot summers day with A/C on, but it happened on a 20 min drive last night & the ambient temp was quite cool. I'm pretty sure it used to sit somewhere between 1/4 & 1/2, depending how you drive it.

Now I have checked the obvious: plenty of coolant in resevoir, plenty of pressure when I loosen the cap(after being driven), hoses seem ok/tight, no coolant on garage floor,drive belt ok, radiator seems ok(but hard to see). From reading other posts, the Thermostat seems the easiest & 1st culprit to check, but other than that what are the chances of it being:

1)Radiator

2)Water pump

3) Other suggestions

Can 1) & 2) be diagnosed?

Would also like to know:

4)Where on the temp gauge the thermo's kick in(half way mark of gauge on mine)

5)Where is your temp gauge sitting this time of year

Appreciate all advise/feedback.

[Zerosignal]

Its the thermostat 100% 10 min fix and youll be all sweet.

[xr6t4life]

hows your coolant looking is it still green or a rusty colour, corosion can sometimes block part of the radiator making it less efficient

[Dush73]

Thanks for the replys......think I'll start with the thermostat & see what happens.

The coolant is about 1yr old....Iooks green, a bit on the dark side, so I was gonna compare it to some used coolant I have,although coolant does change colour with use? My main concern was there was no rings that oil forms when in water & that seems ok.

[Never had any say Panda]

Something I noticed when a car actually overheats and it's not just a thermostat playing up.. If you're running the aircon pretty cool and the engine overheats the windscreen will fog up like crazy.. If that isn't happening I'm with Zero on needing a new thermostat

[dule]

I'm with others, thermostat most likely. From what I hear water pumps are pretty decent on these things.

Thermo fans have 2 speeds. They are set off on low (hard to notice) before temperature hits half way and full speed when it hits half way.

[Dush73]

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd give u a heads up on the situation(as it may help others) & a thankyou for the help.

I ended up changing the thermostat with a Tridon High Flow from Super cheap & that seems to have solved my overheating issue. Temp gauge sits mostly between 1/4 & 1/2 way.