is my car overheating or is this normal?

Random

it's a 94 corsa.

here's some photos of my temp gauge in my car (look at the timestamps). i was driving along and came to stop and took the first one. 2 mins later while stopped in traffic the gauge has flown up.

then i get moving again and it drops right down.

sympthoms of an overheating engine?

CabanasBoy

Random wrote: »

it's a 94 corsa.

here's some photos of my temp gauge in my car (look at the timestamps). i was driving along and came to stop and took the first one. 2 mins later while stopped in traffic the gauge has flown up.

then i get moving again and it drops right down.

sympthoms of an overheating engine?

Perfectly normal. anywhere between 90-100 is fine, because system is pressurised it can safely go to 100 without boiling out. If it was making trips into the red section I'd be worried.

Nissan doctor

Its a sign of your rad fan or fan switch not working. When your moving the air flow keeps the rad cool.

It shouldn't be fluctuating that much, that quickly in traffic.

CiniO

Possibly your radiator fan is not working.
After driving when your temp is about 90, stop the car, leave the engine working, open the bonnet and see if the fan on radiator starts.
If temperature on the gauge will reach 100 degrees and fan won't start, it means there's definitely something wrong. Might be fan itself, or might be the temp sensor.
Don't let it go over 100 as you might do some damage to the cooling system and engine.
If it goes higher just turn off the engine and wait.

brembo26

alot of them ould opels are like kettles anyway. just turn on the heater (hot setting) full blast and it will go back down :P

doOh

perfectly normal for opel :P had same thing in astra mk1

Random

i first noticed it doing this in the snow when i was stuck in traffic and now again in the past week or two.

Nissan doctor

Just because a lot of old Opels do it, doesn't make it normal. On Opels the temperature should be at 95 in all situations once up to temperature. When its going from just over 90 to just under 100 like yours there is an issue with, most likely the fan/fan switch, or possibly the thermostat too. All assuming that the coolant level is fine.

Dowdy20

I had a similar problem in my old golf...turned out to be the thermostat.

cheap fix so might as well try it.

Once an engine is warm there should be no movement of the temp gauge, the stat and cooling system should maintain temperature so that the gauge doesn't move.

si_guru

Be very careful! Don't touch the fan when the engine is hot. It might just start turning.

Also the water pump could be wearing.. therefore it is less efficient at tick over in traffic.

Malice

brembo26 wrote: »

alot of them ould opels are like kettles anyway. just turn on the heater (hot setting) full blast and it will go back down :P

This is exactly what I was going to say. I had a 97 Corsa a few years ago and that was my fix for when the engine temperature used to creep up when I was in traffic.

biko

Seems to be within parameters. Have you checked coolant level?

Random

i've not checked coolant level. i should probably do that from what i hear. i'll report back!

Andrew Campbell

There is nothing wrong with the high temps in the pictures, the problem is that it is warm and then runs cooler once you start moving again. as the thermostat is broken in the open position this allows the warm water in the engine cooling system circulate through the radiator and the wind blowing through the radiator as you move cools it below optimal temperature. change the thermostat, its quite easy and cheap. it will make a huge difference, car will heat up quicker, engine will use less fuel and will even last longer as it wears less when at normal temperature.

shamwari

Dowdy20 wrote: »

I had a similar problem in my old golf...turned out to be the thermostat.

cheap fix so might as well try it.

The stat is not an easy fix on those Corsas. Its timing belt off, cam pulley off, and then rear timing case off to get at the stat housing. New timing belt needed on reassembly.

Once the temp gauge goes over the half way mark when stopped I doubt it is the stat alone anyway, if the stat at all. With the stat stuck open if the fan etc is all hunky dorey the needle shouldn't rise any more than the normal temp, mightn't even get to normal.

So if that temp needle is higher than the normal operating point of one of them Corsa yokes then it's not the stat alone.

Leonard Hofstadter

The temperature gauge in older Opels always seems to do this - usually it's nothing to get overly worried about (in an Opel anyway - I've never seen this happen with any other car though) but if it's only started doing this lately then I would get it checked out just to be sure.