Possible overheating

[germjames]

Drove to work this morning and the temperature warning light came on. At least I think it's the temperature warning. Red, squiggles with what looks like a thermometer on the top left of that area of the dash.

The temperature sensor next to the petrol gauge rose to exactly halfway and stayed there rock solid like it always does. It might be important to say that it was bitterly cold this morning and was the first time I have seen the Furby frosted up, so not sure if this was a coincidence. The service light has been on for a while, but it had a service when i bought it(65000miles), and I will be servicing it this week on 68500, 1500 miles before its due again just for peace of mind. Oh yes, It had a remap a couple of weeks ago, but I really haven't driven it any differently or thrashed it at all, all motorway miles at 70 (give or take 10% ).

Sorry for waffling, just wanted to put all the information in. I'll see if the light comes on when I drive home later. But if it does, am I alright to drive it until it's service on saturday? I do about 65 miles a day.

[trundlenut]

likely to the low coolant level warning light - the sensor in the expansion bottle gets crud build up on it and doesn't then work properly. The answer is to scrape off the prongs or replace the expansion bottle. There are quite a few threads about this problem.

[germjames]

That's a relief. Thanks for the reply. In short, it probably won't blow up between now and saturday when I take it to the garage.

Thanks

[trundlenut]

just have a quick look and check the coolant level in the expansion tank and it may be worth giving the two probes in the tank a scrape with a screwdriver and see if that cures the problem. For some reason this problems tends to occur when it is cold.

[germjames]

I was actually just looking online for a haynes of similar manual for the car. Have to be honest, I did some bits and bobs on my clio, but i've only looked under the bonnet of the Furby about twice. Where would I be looking for the expansion tank?

Thanks

[trundlenut]

big round thing full of pink liquid in the back left corner (looking from the front of the car) pretty obvious really.

[tag1_uk]

big round thing full of pink liquid in the back left corner (looking from the front of the car) pretty obvious really.

Or big empty round thing if the low fluid level light was on for that reason.

[Tight Git]

Mine started doing this a couple of weeks ago - dealer said it's a 'known problem', and will cost about £80 to replace the bottle/sensor and re-fill.

Only does it when very cold and if you turn off the engine when warm and start up again it goes away. Will try cleaning the sensors, otherwise it's waiting till next service when the cambelt and waterpump are replaced.

[Guest BigJase88]

coolant reservoir is about £15 and some new coolant and £12 a bottle

easy peasy DIY! takes about 30mins if you aren't so confident

[DRJ]

Drove to work this morning and the temperature warning light came on. At least I think it's the temperature warning. Red, squiggles with what looks like a thermometer on the top left of that area of the dash.

The temperature sensor next to the petrol gauge rose to exactly halfway and stayed there rock solid like it always does. It might be important to say that it was bitterly cold this morning and was the first time I have seen the Furby frosted up, so not sure if this was a coincidence. The service light has been on for a while, but it had a service when i bought it(65000miles), and I will be servicing it this week on 68500, 1500 miles before its due again just for peace of mind. Oh yes, It had a remap a couple of weeks ago, but I really haven't driven it any differently or thrashed it at all, all motorway miles at 70 (give or take 10% ).

Sorry for waffling, just wanted to put all the information in. I'll see if the light comes on when I drive home later. But if it does, am I alright to drive it until it's service on saturday? I do about 65 miles a day.

Sorry - just spotted this. That's my old car and I can confirm this problem wasn't there when I had the car, neither had I had it previously and mended it.

I'm posting now since I find curious that the garage didn't reset the service indicator - or perhaps didn't actually carry out the service they said they'd done. And why is it due again now? If it had had an annual inspection service when you bought it - as I'd have expected - it won't need another service till around 75,000 miles or summer 2011 depending on your mileage. So why service it now? If you check the full service history - which I hope they gave you since I gave it to them - you'll find it's been serviced more often than the 10k interval in the latter part of its life (since my mileage dropped below 10k a year) which is why it's out of sync with the 10k interval...

[stevobeavo]

My sensor comes on when its really cold even though the coolent is fine. Its a dodgy sensor and mine goes away if I turn the car off andback on again