Water coolant temperature

[Osborne]

Hello, this is my first post on this forum as have just acquired a 1999 Rover 75 2.0 V6, manual Tourer. I collected it yesterday from the dealer where it has just had the cam belts changed. I drove it about 130 miles home and t was lovely, smooth, comfortable, everything I had hoped for. Today, having got back from work I could smell a distinctly 'hot' smell from the cooling system. The level in the header tank seemed a bit low and the sure enough the smell was definitely there. I have read that the correct maximum level mark is quite low down in the header, after I topped it up!

Please can anyone with experience advise me on what to check to see if I have a much more pressing issue lurking, i.e. head gasket. The temperature gauge stays steady at the exact halfway all the time, traffic, motorway.
I hope someone can advise.

Really interesting forum by the way
regards

[suzublu]

Welcome along, you'll get all the information you need soon I'm sure, for now though, the temp gauge is useless for actual running temp, when it moves It's too late so, you can activate the on board display thus https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/s...ad.php?t=55585
sequence 19 then 7 is for the digital temp Have fun
The level in the tank is lower than you think

[Yorkshire GOC]

Originally Posted by Osborne

Hello, this is my first post on this forum as have just acquired a 1999 Rover 75 2.0 V6, manual Tourer. I collected it yesterday from the dealer where it has just had the cam belts changed. I drove it about 130 miles home and t was lovely, smooth, comfortable, everything I had hoped for. Today, having got back from work I could smell a distinctly 'hot' smell from the cooling system. The level in the header tank seemed a bit low and the sure enough the smell was definitely there. I have read that the correct maximum level mark is quite low down in the header, after I topped it up!

Please can anyone with experience advise me on what to check to see if I have a much more pressing issue lurking, i.e. head gasket. The temperature gauge stays steady at the exact halfway all the time, traffic, motorway.
I hope someone can advise.

Really interesting forum by the way
regards

Hi

Welcome to the tribe.

Firstly the V6 is considered much less prone to HGF than the 1.8/1.8t - first thing to do is check your fan is working as you mention a cooking coolant smell - as you are a 99 reg not sure if you have the old 3 speed fan or the later 2 speed fan ( others will advise) -however the low speed fan should support the cooling system - so do the demist test to see if the low speed is working or not. Switch screen demist button on and go to front of car and RHS of grill you should see the fan spinning - if not you may need a new fan.

If you are actually losing coolant check in the V of the engine -a classic leak point on the V6 - if you losing coolant I personally would ask a garage to put her up on a ramp and do a coolant pressure test - its good at spotting more discrete leaks such as from the inlet manifold gasket.

[Osborne]

Thanks for quick reply, will have a look

[Osborne]

thank you for that info, sorry my car is 2001 NOT 1999, that was my last one! I will do the demist check. I cant see any signs of fluid leak
best regards

[T-Cut]

Water coolant temperature

You should know that the 'normal' or 9o'clock position on the dash temperature gauge is relatively meaningless. The needle reaches that point when the coolant temperature is only 75C (way too low) and will stay there unless it reaches 115C (rather too hot). So, driving at gauge 'normal' means nothing I'm afraid. The correct running temperature is around 90C for typical conditions. Obviously this is variable situation. So, if stop-start traffic prevails, the engine may warm up more and the cooling fan should trip on at 100C. But the only way to know what's going on is to drive with the trip screen in Diagnostic Mode.

Diagnostic Mode (you need section 7): https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/s...ad.php?t=55585

Or fit a proper temperature gauge.

TC

[Yorkshire GOC]

Originally Posted by Osborne

thank you for that info, sorry my car is 2001 NOT 1999, that was my last one! I will do the demist check. I cant see any signs of fluid leak
best regards

If you have a 2 speed fan - which i have - if the fan is not working in many instances it is the failure of the fan resistor (positioned at 2 o'clock on the fan face) the original silver resistors do fail - and can be replaced by the new "gold" resistor which you can get on e bay for a few pounds. Anyway see how the D mist test goes.

As to the older 3 speed fan i don't have any hands on experience.

It is good news that you are not losing coolant.

[Osborne]

I have checked the fan and it is definitely working. Will drive it today and monitor the situation. I will try the on board diagnosis

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated