My 2009 Y61 overheated a couple of weeks back

[londondxb]

Before the floods, and during Eid, I was out for a ride and got stuck in some really slow stop/start traffic for about 20 minutes. This was late in the evening when the weather was a bit cooler. For the first time ever the coolant temperature on my dash spiked to max and the check engine light came on (which I've now read to be P1217 - engine over temperature). This is the first time it's happened in my <1 year of ownership; it normally sits dead on the 'min' line.

I shut it off and waited an hour or so to cool down before topping it up with I think 6 litres of water before driving it home with no further issues. When I got home I topped everything up to the max again - the radiator and the two supplementary tanks next to each wing - and it was probably another four litres, which is an alarming amount of coolant. So far I've not seen any leaks whilst the car has been parked; it's bone dry.

I last had the car serviced about six months ago which was its first service during my ownership. I hope they checked/topped up the coolant, but I guess there's every possibility they didn't and I'd been running low since purchasing the car. When I bought the car I did a PPI on it and there was no mention of coolant leaks/coolant being low, but again I don't remember explicitly seeing that it was checked so there's every possibility it was overlooked again.

All my local garages are currently full of flooded cars but I of course have to take it in somewhere to be pressure checked, etc. In the meantime does anyone have any suggestions on what I proactively might be able to check? Could I have an improperly sealing radiator cap for instance? Visually everything looks fine but maybe I have a leak that's causing evaporation under high pressure.

[Frederic]

4 hours ago, londondxb said:

Before the floods, and during Eid, I was out for a ride and got stuck in some really slow stop/start traffic for about 20 minutes. This was late in the evening when the weather was a bit cooler. For the first time ever the coolant temperature on my dash spiked to max and the check engine light came on (which I've now read to be P1217 - engine over temperature). This is the first time it's happened in my <1 year of ownership; it normally sits dead on the 'min' line.

I shut it off and waited an hour or so to cool down before topping it up with I think 6 litres of water before driving it home with no further issues. When I got home I topped everything up to the max again - the radiator and the two supplementary tanks next to each wing - and it was probably another four litres, which is an alarming amount of coolant. So far I've not seen any leaks whilst the car has been parked; it's bone dry.

I last had the car serviced about six months ago which was its first service during my ownership. I hope they checked/topped up the coolant, but I guess there's every possibility they didn't and I'd been running low since purchasing the car. When I bought the car I did a PPI on it and there was no mention of coolant leaks/coolant being low, but again I don't remember explicitly seeing that it was checked so there's every possibility it was overlooked again.

All my local garages are currently full of flooded cars but I of course have to take it in somewhere to be pressure checked, etc. In the meantime does anyone have any suggestions on what I proactively might be able to check? Could I have an improperly sealing radiator cap for instance? Visually everything looks fine but maybe I have a leak that's causing evaporation under high pressure.

Hi @londondxb the fact you had to add about 6litres is indeed a sign you were basically running without any coolant.

Using water to refill can be done in emergency cases, but you will need to get it flushed and replaced with coolant asap. Water will cause corrosion inside the cooling circuit, while coolant has corrosion inhibitor inside, and also has a higher boiling point).

Another thing to consider is you might have some air bubbles inside the system now which have to be released. In any case i would highly advise to take the car for coolant flushing and replacement (even a nearby Autopro or something can do this).

They can also do a basic inspection on leaks. I do hope if you are consuming water somewhere and you don't seem to see where it's going, it might be being burned by the engine which would mean a faulty head gasket. But then again you'd have to see some white smoke coming out of the exhaust.

[Gaurav]

12 hours ago, londondxb said:

Could I have an improperly sealing radiator cap for instance?

This would have caused the engine to overheat instantly, as water and pressure constantly leak.

7 hours ago, Frederic said:

But then again you'd have to see some white smoke coming out of the exhaust.

That's the last stage.

 

My views:

6 liter depletion isn't normal and you would have felt it much earlier before this car switching-off episode. Something is leaking through the radiator or its hoses for sure.

Car switched off is the last stage and Im afraid and sorry to say that most likely 9 out 10 times with full engine overheat, the head gasket goes instantly. Probably you might be lucky as you were at slow-moving speed and not on highway or off-road.

Don't drive the car until you can get hold of a good mechanic available to minimize the extent of damage (if it's done).

1. Get the coolant pressure check.
2. Get compression test of all cyl, that can 100% tell the engine health. 
   • If variance of more than 10-15% in any cyl. surely head gasket is gone.
   • All cyl should read above 120 PSI or Google Patrol compression number to cross-check.