Thermostat light

8th October 2012, 20:01

Hi, recently the thermostat light came on on my dashboard. I have also noticed that there is now no hot air coming from the vents. I have refilled the rad with water and antifreeze, but the light is still on. The engine also sounds like its choking slightly, mainly when I'm changing upwards through the gears (it sounds like the engine is shaking..... That's the only way I can think to describe it! Lol) I'm going to try bleeding my rad on Wednesday (my only day off) and changing the fuses for my rear screen heater and fan (as these don't work!).
I have also had points where the car stalls itself, always when I'm trying to pull off in 1st.... It's like it's not getting enough petrol to the engine or something, and also when sitting at lights, the revs drop and if I don't tap the accelerator, it will stall or completely cut out. I have also put oil in the engine!
Any ideas of what's going on? Please help!! X

8th October 2012, 20:39

You have an air lock in your cooling system which needs bleeding,have a search on here theres a how to guide.

8th October 2012, 20:48

An airlock wouldn't cause the engine to cut out. If anything, it'd cause the engine to overheat, start to seize and then cutout. Especially if it's poorly maintained.

I'd say either the headgaskets on the way out (most go from 70k on the TU engines, specifically the smaller 8v's with aluminium block. They also suffer from knackered seals on the piston liners.

Basically, if either your radiator or oil caps of got a white gunk on them then you're looking at headgasket. £350 ish.

You could be lucky and bung in a new thermostat, then properly bleed the coolant, but I don't think this is going to cure your cutting out problems. That could be headgasket related but most probably just a sesnor problem. Idle control valve or map sensor would be the first call about the cutting out if your headgaskets not screwed.

To bleed the system, undo screw on passenger side of radiator, undo brass allen key screw on passenger side of engine near where the top rad hose goes to the engine, undo the valve cap on the drivers side rear pipe In the engine bay. Fill with coolant/water until water appears from all 3 bleed points. Then do them up, you might have to do up one or two so water comes out of the third.

Just thought I'd say that, as people getting told to search how to do something just pulls up loads of old threads telling everyone else to search lol.

8th October 2012, 20:50

My bad Kris,I`m tired & didn`t read the op`s post properly mate.

8th October 2012, 20:52

Does that cause the engine to rattle like that? I've read posts on how to bleed the rad, and it says there are 3 nipples to open, but it might sound stupid...... Bu I've only found 2 so far lol one on the bottom of the rad and one at the top. Where is the other one? My saxo is a 1 litre mischief.

8th October 2012, 21:00

When I filled the engine with oil, inside was completely clear, no white gunk, but I will have a closer look on Wednesday.
I like to pretend I know what I'm doing........ But I might have a problem bleeding the rad myself lol ��

8th October 2012, 21:07

Oh also another thing (all my problems seem to just come up at once! Lol) I pulled up to some lights, stopped and popped into 1st. My foot was on the brake, not touching the accelerator at all, but the engine sounded like it was stuck (it sounded like I had my foot down) but then when I pulled off, it stopped and it hasn't done it since. All these things only started happening a couple of days ago, before then, no problems whatsoever