So yesterday afternoon after being awake since 2:30am, I drove up to visit
@loose_unit and the 4.5hr trip went without a hitch.
I had an issue today. Opel blew coolant out of the rear coolant hose. I wanted to go for a run on the ring but on the way there, engine said “let’s drop some coolant for a cool smoke effect.” After I went with
@loose_unit to help him pick up his car, we drove to the Nürburgring for a lap. So once the coolant blew, we got off the autobahn and pulled over to asses the situation.
Looks like they’re nothing catastrophically broken, just coolant went out because the engine got hot.
Why?
I suspect two or three problems.
Ever since I started driving it regularly, the gauge temp sensor would take forever to display engine temp. And it’s never felt accurate to me because stopping to refuel after driving for a while meant the gauge would go from around 90°C down to just below 80ish on a summer day. Or if I stopped for an hour, magically the car goes from normal temp to dead cold, no way. Once in a while it wouldn’t start when the engine is hot, I suspect the ECU doesn’t have an accurate engine temp reading.
After a few minutes of driving, I can switch the heating on and the air is warm and longer time it gets hot. So the thermostat is opening and the heater core is functioning like it should, or so I thought. I shouldn’t have an overheating situation if the thermostat opens fully, which could also be why the electronic temp sensor is reading funny, and I’ve just been lucky up to this point. No, I don’t want to believe the water pump is bad, supposedly the timing belt was done 30,000ish kilometers ago.
Or possibly the coolant hoses are just old and weak.
What’s the plan of attack? New coolant hoses and a thermostat, then see if that fixes it. If not replace the electronic sensor as well, only if the gauge needle still acts up. If none of that fixes it, don’t beat on it plan for a replacement vehicle.
enjoy!
