1996 CG13 k11 sudden overheating issue help

Hey lads just wondering can anyone with experience with similar situation please shed some light on it for me.

So I was driving a 1.3 k11 today,
Year 1996, car has been fine driving untill today after 20 minutes into a drive I seen the temp gauge needle climb high and not to far from the dreaded H.

So I pull her over, turned car off immediately, I seen small amount of steam coming from left side engine bay which was clearly the coolant expansion bottle, the best way I can describe the situation is,

Car overheated to just below H so it was high,which worries me as I’m petrified it may be head gasket and I’m worried about extent of possible damage for driving it the few minutes I did.

Anyway car overheated just below H, I pulled over, turned off car, open bonnet, slight steam coming from coolant expansion thank area and the water within was very small amount but what was in the tank was bubbling and gurgling is best way I can describe it,like a kettle

I filled the tank with more coolant that i had spare with me, at this point I did not open the radiator cap as I had noting with me to protect me from burns so I left that be,

I let the car cool down briefly and then I started it up again to finish the last 1-2minutes of my journey to home.

Got home thankfully, but within those 1-2 minutes the car did heat up again to just below H, but then at times the temp needle would shoot back down to half way again. So sometimes it’s high and then all sudden boom it’s back to midway temp again. But then would go high again.

I got the car home, turned off let cool down for hour and half, topped up radiator and then coolant tank again.

Took it for a drive for 5-10 minutes
All was well again and drove fine for about 5 minutes or more when the needle started climbing again
So parked her up and turned off untill I get at it over weekend.

Can anyone give me a possible list of causes.

My biggest dreaded concern is that it is head gasket, and I worry is it possible I may have damaged the engine severely in such a short time frame of driving while being high temp range,

but I don’t have any gunky white milky oil, all oil seems fine, no white smoke from exhaust, no gunky water in radiator either,

My gut feeling is a stuck thermostat, so that’s where I am going to start with, will do coolant flush, fit new thermostat and then fill system with new coolant.

What I would like to state is also
Up untill recently the car went trough quite some time being stored and idle, which may has caused and issue.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as the car is important

Thanks
Tor

remove w stat to see if water is pumping around.

Micra Paul said:

remove w stat to see if water is pumping around.

Click to expand...

I assume you mean the thermostat is it??
Thanks

TORK10 said:

I assume you mean the thermostat is it??
Thanks

Click to expand...

Yes
REMOVE Water temp control stat.
And reseal it's cover housing, top up water level.
then run engine with stat removed to test if it still quickly overheats

Micra Paul said:

Yes
REMOVE Water temp control stat.
And reseal it's cover housing, top up water level.
then run engine with stat removed to test if it still quickly overheats

Click to expand...

Ok I was confused as I have never heard anyone call it a WATER TEMP CONTROL STAT before

I and many others just call it thermostat

I’m going to try that anyway Monday as had no time since issue occurred

So will do that first
Then do coolant flush and refitting of new thermostat and bleed the system of air

Hopefully I caught it in time before further issues occurred

So today I had a bit of time to check and try things,

I removed thermostat and done a coolant flush, refilled system with thermostat removed, done a bleeding of the system and then took for a drive,

The car does not over heat, however it still causes bubbling in the coolant bottle, and the radiator runs dry,

Waterpump also works I know that,

I haven’t tried fitting the new thermostat yet,
So will try that and do another flush and bleed of system and top up coolant again and try a drive again

But I’m getting to the point where I’m beginning to get worried it’s the head gasket causing gases to work back into the coolant system

I hope I’m wrong tho

Also to state radiator fan is coming on like should
No white smoke from exhaust
No milky gunk on oil cap Or in expansion bottle

There was one point while doing a coolant flush and air bleed I got this chunk of what I would call sand like sediment come right up to top of radiator and I was able to take it out with my finger

There is no sign of leaks anywhere atall

if the w. Pump is turning but is not circulating enough cooling H2o then it's possible that it is boiling in the engine block producing steam, bubbling,Gurgling.

TORK10 said:

Also to state radiator fan is coming on like should
No white smoke from exhaust
No milky gunk on oil cap Or in expansion bottle

There was one point while doing a coolant flush and air bleed I got this chunk of what I would call sand like sediment come right up to top of radiator and I was able to take it out with my finger

There is no sign of leaks anywhere atall

Click to expand...

So basically your saying that
The water pump may be working but just not enough to circulate the coolant at the required rate necessary

Therefore it’s boiling still.

Look maybe I try fit a new waterpump then and see but I’m not sure if that’s the culprit

But thanks

The gurgling ws from the plastic expansion tank in the wing? Check it has not cracks - they can get brittle and then that could cause you an issue when the engine's hot as the coolant/pressure is escaping from that tank instead of cooling down

Hi Craig thanks for the info,

And yes basically the gurgling/bubbling is from the plastic expansion tank just beside battery yes. Like yesterday I ran the car without thermostat
Done a flush of coolant system again, refilled and bled air out again. Topped up rad and put cap back on and topped expansion tank to max level mark and went off for drive,

The car itself did not over heat on the gauge it just slightly went a little beyond half way, this was even with the thermostat removed btw, I was like great happy day nice drive and car didn’t over heat I’m winning it must be the thermostat then.

Pulled back in home popped the bonnet and seen gurgling/bubbling in the expansion thank still but not as aggressive as the day the overheating issue occurred, and radiator was basically dry no water would come to the top by squeezing top or bottom rad hose so I knew the rad was basically empty

I let the car then cool down again refilled everything and done a fresh bleed of system and took for drive again,
What I notice is sometimes it goes beyond half way and then needle would suddenly drop below half way, when I got back from the last drive of the day still gurgling/bubbling into expansion tank and when I opened the rad just at the top below rad cap I found what I can best describe as a nicer size lump of sediment like sand like maybe

I’m honestly getting no milky like substance in the oil neither under oil cap or dipstick

Nor no weird crap back into the expansion tank

So I’m like do I fit new thermostat and do a fresh fill and bleed again and see how that goes or do I move on to trying a new water pump also?

I will fit new pump and belts down the line anyway soon but I’m just trying to narrow down is it the dreaded head gasket which I’m hoping not

Sorry for the essay of info
But appreciate the help

Radiator may be partly blocked with sludge and crud to which you refer.
Also w pump may not be able to supply sufficient cooling flow rate through the partly clogged rad.
Fittng new parts at random is not a viable economic option with 1996 vehicle.

Yes possibly, going to remove rad and blow it out
But when I remove top and bottom hoses and blow water in from the top water runs nice and clear from bottom of rad.

Only parts I have purchased as of is thermostat and coolant so not to bad

Rad needs to be reversed flushed to be effectively cleaned out.
Reassemble reconnect rad refill coolant.
With stat still removed, start cold engine and check cold coolant flow in top of rad with the rad cap open.
Ensure that the flow rate rapidly increases when cold engine is reved up and that excess water is not puddling in the top of rad?

Micra Paul said:

Rad needs to be reversed flushed to be effectively cleaned out.
Reassemble reconnect rad refill coolant.
With stat still removed, start cold engine and check cold coolant flow in top of rad with the rad cap open.
Ensure that the flow rate rapidly increases when cold engine is reved up and that excess water is not puddling in the top of rad?

Click to expand...

Ok I will do a reverse flush,
I will leave rad cap off add fit a no spill funnel and bleed any air,

I do know that from trying already when I rev the engine with the rad cap off the coolant in the rad will flow/spill out

So I’ve read online that if the coolant in the rad overflows and spills out when I rev the car
That this means the water pump is working

I’m also going to compression test the engine as I know bad head gasket will effect compression
Do you or anyone know what compression results are expected from a standard cg13 engine

Just to mention this is a jap import march cg13
Not a uk/European micra

Thanks for help so far