Overheating When Stationary

[GMurray1971]

Hi, I have a Carina E 2.0cdx and for the past few weeks it's started overheating right into the red at the top of the gauge when stationary. it seemed almost intermittent at first but now every time the car is stationary for say 30-60 seconds the temp. shoots up. the first few times it happened, just getting the car above 30mph was enough to cool it back to normal (dead middle of gauge) temp but the past week it's climbed back up again once moving before settling after a couple of minutes to normal. Opened the bonnet and the 2 radiator fans aren't coming on at all but i don't really know what the causes of this might be. the coolant expansion tank was at minimum with the engine cold so i refilled that - but do i also need to refill the radiator? also, the car has ran with the temp. in the high danger area for maybe 5-10 minutes in 1 or 2 minute spurts - would this cause any damage? it drives just the same and there's no fouling of either oil or water so i'm thinking my gasket is fine but has that amount of running so hot done any potential damage?

thank you in advance for any replies, i'm completely lost.

gary

[m4nt45]

hi there mate...

from symptoms you described I believe it could be a fault of your thermostat.

there is an address where you can find some info about whole cooling system and each part seperatly

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cooling-system8.htm

maybe it will help

what about a damage i believe it should be fine as long as there is no ANY change in engines

behavior

I had a prob with overheating once with my old bmw 324d.

unfortunetly i failed to notice that the car is owerheating

and blown the engine in just about 3miles

honest advice,avoid any unnecesary trips while you get it sorted

good luck

[m4nt45]

also you need to make sure there is enough coolant in radiator..

whatever you do....just dont fill very hot radiator with cold coolant under any circumstances,

especialy if the engine is on

[carina expert]

theres a temperature sensor that slots into the bottom of the raiator, a small screw type , most likely its that , if thats faulty your fan wont work , there abt £40