International Lancia Forums

I bought my 92 Dedra 2.0 i.e. two days ago and she was great. Then today on the motorway she badly over heated. So I pulled her in and did loads of stupid stuff like take the cap of the coolant container while still hot etc. She has been filled with both coolant and water 3 times since and contines to overheat. I rang the previous owner and this had never happened to him and he helped me try and find a solution not blamin himself at all so I'm not). Through various trials and error I can conclude that.

1. I can't hear the radiator come on and it feels cold when the rest of the enfine is boiling over. The fuse is still intact though.
2. The pipe going into the top of the radiator is boiling and is also very squeezable, so I tried to squeeze what I thought was an airlock out and bubbles appeared in the coolant container, but my hands got pretty burnt so I stopped. Might this be the whole issue??

We got home by stickin to 5th as much as possible and putting th internal air on full pelt warm. Once that was stopped she boiled again. Is this something simple or is the thermostat gone? Any advice would be great!!! Many thanks

Gwyn

Could be a number of things really...

If both the top & bottom hoses are warm or hot then I wouldn't expect it's a problem with the thermostat.

I've experienced the odd difficulty in the past with getting the cooling system on the 2.0/1.8 engines to bleed out properly and its possible you've also had trouble with airlocks in the system, there's a bleed screw located in the top right corner of the radiator. Drain the cooling system completely by removing the bottom hose on the radiator & remove the bleed screw from the radiator. Re-fit the bottom hose & make sure all the hoses are tight then start to add coolant to the coolant reservoir until it reaches the level of the bleed screw, place the screw in the radiator but don't tighten it. Once the air bubbles have stopped coming out at the screw you can tighten it slightly, top up the coolant reservoir & start the engine & let it run up to temperature with the heaters switched on fully. It's then a matter of keeping an eye on the temperature gauge & opening the bleed screw ever so slightly to get all the air out of the system (just like bleeding out the radiators in your house). When you're satisfied there's no air left in the system tighten the bleed screw fully & make sure the level in the reservoir is OK.

Is the radiator itself partially blocked or corroded ? They are getting quite old nowadays...

Check for any leaks behind the engine in the area of the water pump. A flexible hose connects to a steel pipe which runs across the back of the engine block & if this isn't secure it could lose coolant & draw in air.

And now for the bad news, if the engine has overheated badly this many times its possible that the head gasket is now gone, but here's hoping.......

Thanks for the help. Turns out it was the thermostat which I managed to replace easily enough along with snapping a bolt and being unable to replace two of the rods as well. Ah well it works and I'll sort it out better again. Thanks again

Certainly sounds like the thermostat is sticking but is the radiator fan cutting in? other possibility is that the radiator is blocked.
Is she blowing the water out ? as another possibility is that you have a leaking head gasket & the cooling system is being pressurised.

Brian Hilton
Dedra Advisor
Lancia Motor Club
UK