Yo.
So, recently my 1.6 16v SC has been having some troubles in the coolant department. I'd be getting temp readouts around 110-120, and the car has been struggling to bring that temp down to normal levels, even at idle. Driving under load would get temps into the 120-130s, until suddenly dropping to 105 before climbing again. The temp dash light only came on once during all this - specifically the first time the car overheated, before I started tracking temps.
Have been driving with my heating on full blast to try and deviate engine heat, but the temp of the air coming out of the vents was 'uncomfortably warm' at most. Didn't marry up too well to a car claiming its coolant was sitting at 120-130c.
Had a look under the bonnet at the weekend, and made a discovery. The rubber coolant hose wasn't seated into its horseshoe bracket. It was fully loose, and was doing this:
It has been resting on top of the AC refridgerant pipe. The hot rubber pipe had bonded itself quite nicely to the cold metal one. I got them apart, and luckily the rubber pipe hasn't been split or melted, but you can see in the pic that it's left a mark from its time sat where it shouldn't.
Anyway, I put the rubber hose back into its bracket. Now, the car gets to temps of 105-110c, and when idling, comes back down to the mid 90s almost immediately. It's back to cooling itself as intended (thank god!!)
There's only one problem now. Despite the car cooling itself perfectly again, twice it has randomly spiked up to 130c and spewed out error code P0117 Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor 1 Circuit Low.
I'm thinking that the poor sensors' been through the wringer after an extended time of the Very Hot Pipe touching the Very Cold Pipe. Car would be normal temps, spike to 130, give the error code, and then the coolant returns to 105c and carries on as normal. This happened yesterday on my drive home, and I whacked the heating on full blast, and thankfully this time, the air that came out of the vents was actually boiling. I thought my skin was going to burn off hahaha.
The sensors' gotta be shot. But I don't think I know enough to be sure about that.
This car is such a princess. Am I right in thinking replacing the sensor might nip this final issue in the bud? Or perhaps it's something else?
Ty for reading this essay.
I guess my PSA is 'make sure the hot pipes aren't touching the cold pipes'. Hahahaha
So, recently my 1.6 16v SC has been having some troubles in the coolant department. I'd be getting temp readouts around 110-120, and the car has been struggling to bring that temp down to normal levels, even at idle. Driving under load would get temps into the 120-130s, until suddenly dropping to 105 before climbing again. The temp dash light only came on once during all this - specifically the first time the car overheated, before I started tracking temps.
Have been driving with my heating on full blast to try and deviate engine heat, but the temp of the air coming out of the vents was 'uncomfortably warm' at most. Didn't marry up too well to a car claiming its coolant was sitting at 120-130c.
Had a look under the bonnet at the weekend, and made a discovery. The rubber coolant hose wasn't seated into its horseshoe bracket. It was fully loose, and was doing this:
It has been resting on top of the AC refridgerant pipe. The hot rubber pipe had bonded itself quite nicely to the cold metal one. I got them apart, and luckily the rubber pipe hasn't been split or melted, but you can see in the pic that it's left a mark from its time sat where it shouldn't.
Anyway, I put the rubber hose back into its bracket. Now, the car gets to temps of 105-110c, and when idling, comes back down to the mid 90s almost immediately. It's back to cooling itself as intended (thank god!!)
There's only one problem now. Despite the car cooling itself perfectly again, twice it has randomly spiked up to 130c and spewed out error code P0117 Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor 1 Circuit Low.
I'm thinking that the poor sensors' been through the wringer after an extended time of the Very Hot Pipe touching the Very Cold Pipe. Car would be normal temps, spike to 130, give the error code, and then the coolant returns to 105c and carries on as normal. This happened yesterday on my drive home, and I whacked the heating on full blast, and thankfully this time, the air that came out of the vents was actually boiling. I thought my skin was going to burn off hahaha.
The sensors' gotta be shot. But I don't think I know enough to be sure about that.
This car is such a princess. Am I right in thinking replacing the sensor might nip this final issue in the bud? Or perhaps it's something else?
Ty for reading this essay.
I guess my PSA is 'make sure the hot pipes aren't touching the cold pipes'. Hahahaha
