Hi to all,

After a lot of stop start driving on an unusually hot 'n' sweaty day over here in the west of Ireland, the trusty old felly started to see red (on the temp gauge). Just 5 miles from home waiting in traffic, the needle started rising quite steadily. My passenger thought she heard a noise and the bloke in front got out and went round the front of his motor, then got back in. Next thing there was a load of smoke wafting up and she thought it was his exhaust smoke, i glanced at the gauge and saw it had hit the red, swiftly switching off. Smoke suddenly poured out of the bonnet vents etc, and on getting out, i noticed coolant all over the road; on raising the bonnet it was all over the engine bay aswell! The fan was running, but i'm not sure at what temp it kicked in. The coolant appeared to have pressurised and found its way back out the expansion tank cap (i think) and the level was now about an inch below the low level. The guy who recovered the car sloshed some water into the expansion tank (car had cooled for about an hour/ hour & a half at this stage)and i fired her up. The radiator temperature changed to the touch while running and there was warm air blowing through the heater vents. He then followed me up to a local garage i had arranged to take the car for repair. It ran at about 90 degrees or so for the first 4 or 5 mls then started creeping up abit the last 2 mls to about 100. There has been all sorts of ideas thrown around: pump, thermostat, sensors, etc...Its sat there for the last ten days, nothings been done except the decision to order a temp sensor ('that's the most likely problem...'); and as a result i'm going to pick the car up tommorrow and tackle the job myself. Sick of waiting. I'd be interested to hear what fellow felly drivers/ tinkerers make of the symptoms described and any thoughts/ guesses as to what you might think is wrong. I'm gonna flush the coolant system, check/ test the thermostat etc, and we'll see what comes up. Incidentally, the current coolant was put in way back in March 2007 shortly after buying the car whilst living in London. The garage that serviced it dealth with unipart, minis and british leyland stuff. The coolant type is GEC1002 super plus anti-freeze (an illuminous yellow green colour); has anyone had experience of this stuff? It doesn't seem to be spoken about much.

wow what an essay

it does sound like a sticky thermostat, but it's hard to tell without acutally seeing it... personally i wouldn't bother to change the temperature sensore because you proven it works by the fact it goes up and down with the temp of the coolant.... the 1300 engines are a real bugger for busting the thermostat housing too so be prepared, you have have to find a new one...

ref: coolant, you are supposed to use vw G12 stuff in there which is an organic acid and a pink colour, when you mix it with any glycol based antifreeze (the lime green stuff) it forms a beautiful brown sludge in the bottom of the radiator which also could be a contributory factor in your over-heating problems

Watch that with it boiling the old chestnut of head gasket failure hasn't reared it's ugly head. The 1.3 Skoda lump is prone to popping it once it has boiled over.

Yeh, it was a bit of an essay, but i rarely post anything so make it worthwhile when i do!

I picked the car up today and was pleasantly surprised to find the coolant had been replaced with G12. I had already paid a visit to our skoda dealer 'Monaghans' here in Galway. Their price for a genuine skoda temperature sensor (and i presume they would be supplying my local garage) was 35 euros something plus VAT totalling a staggering 42.50 euros or so. Incidentally, they charge an extra 45 euros to fit the damn thing. In case it is/ or becomes a problem i have just bought a pattern one with clip and seal from the UK for £4.11 + £2 P&P (7.11 euros). Back to the garage: As i said before, they had apparently ordered a temp sensor, but I'm not convinced; regardless they had no problem 'cancelling' the order. On driving home (5 mins), it took about 15 mins before the temp gauge needle moved off the stop to settle at about 40 degrees for 10 mins, and a further half hour or so to kickstat the fan which i judged to be at about 96-98 degrees (idling all the time). Looking on previous posts on Briskoda, i'm happy with that. It was another hot day here and i had the car out all afternoon. Initially it took 5 miles before i stopped in traffic, temperature had gently risen to 70 at that point, stationary it rose to 85. The highest it reached was 90 but seemed to settle happily at 80/85 when fully warm. I thought it felt quite crisp and (dare i say) sprightly despite the heat; overall i think the old coolant was past it and i'll hold off tinkering unless a problem crops up. Later i checked the coolant in the expansion tank and there's no sign of oil on the surface (as yet) so hopefully it's resolved.

Yeh, it was a bit of an essay, but i rarely post anything so make it worthwhile when i do!

I picked the car up today and was pleasantly surprised to find the coolant had been replaced with G12. I had already paid a visit to our skoda dealer 'Monaghans' here in Galway. Their price for a genuine skoda temperature sensor (and i presume they would be supplying my local garage) was 35 euros something plus VAT totalling a staggering 42.50 euros or so. Incidentally, they charge an extra 45 euros to fit the damn thing. In case it is/ or becomes a problem i have just bought a pattern one with clip and seal from the UK for £4.11 + £2 P&P (7.11 euros). Back to the garage: As i said before, they had apparently ordered a temp sensor, but I'm not convinced; regardless they had no problem 'cancelling' the order. On driving home (5 mins), it took about 15 mins before the temp gauge needle moved off the stop to settle at about 40 degrees for 10 mins, and a further half hour or so to kickstat the fan which i judged to be at about 96-98 degrees (idling all the time). Looking on previous posts on Briskoda, i'm happy with that. It was another hot day here and i had the car out all afternoon. Initially it took 5 miles before i stopped in traffic, temperature had gently risen to 70 at that point, stationary it rose to 85. The highest it reached was 90 but seemed to settle happily at 80/85 when fully warm. I thought it felt quite crisp and (dare i say) sprightly despite the heat; overall i think the old coolant was past it and i'll hold off tinkering unless a problem crops up. Later i checked the coolant in the expansion tank and there's no sign of oil on the surface (as yet) so hopefully it's resolved.

glad to hear you got it all sorted, and great to hear from a fellow felly owner in the west of ireland! - county clare here, i have a fair few 1.3 bits and pieces knocking about the workshop ( my son also drives a felicia estate) - if you're ever stuck, giz a shout here- cheers!

glad to hear you got it all sorted, and great to hear from a fellow felly owner in the west of ireland! - county clare here, i have a fair few 1.3 bits and pieces knocking about the workshop ( my son also drives a felicia estate) - if you're ever stuck, giz a shout here- cheers!

Thanks for that,If i need anything i'll get in contact. Despite the scrappage scheme, there are alot of Felicias in use over here, rarely does a day pass that i don't one on more on the road including the odd van and pick-up (even seen a customised pick-up with a surfing logo on it a couple of times). The car seems to be behaving itself still, so, fingers crossed...

Time for an update on this overheating problem that I've been living with (these things do eventually get done!): at some stage it became evident that the fan had ceased to come on when necessary, although a test on the fan showed it to be working fine. The radiator temp switch was duly changed. The fan now comes on (a tad late I think) at about 105 degrees, this i put down to a confused cooling system due to a....

BROKEN LUG in the thermostat housing! yes it turned out to be one of the commonly known problems with this model.

On removal of the cover it was immediatly evident that the thermostat was dislodged; what i didn't find is the missing lug that broke off, perhaps it washed out when the coolant was changed at the garage, (hope it doesn't come back to bite).

New/ revised part now on order and hopefully it'll be sorted once and for all.