Elise overheating?

[Tim3003]

Hi,

I have an Elise S1, high-mileage. I recently took it up the motorway, and on the way back via the A-road noticed the coolant temp climbed right up to 110 - 115. The manual says 120 is the danger level. I've not had the car that long, but have not noticed temps this high before. It's not as if it was a hot day or I sat in traffic either. Is this normal, or something that needs to be checked?

Thanks,

Tim

[Chimjunkie]

Would def get that checked out. May be worth running the car then sitting at tick over, keeping an eye on the temp guage, waiting for the fans to kick in between 90-100. Also, if you have a thermometer, stick it into the rad cells and take a reading. It could be a number of simple things. But best get diagnosed by someone trusted.

[Sam_68]

The fans shouldn't kick in until 102-104 degrees (and they should switch off again in the mid-90's), but you certainly shouldn't be going over 100 degrees if the car is moving - it should only creep that high when you're sat in traffic.

Definitely get it checked out!

[griffter]

Has it happened again - or was it a one off?

If a one off it could be something as simple as a plastic bag stuck over the radiator grill.

[Sam_68]

You do check your coolant level regularly, don't you?

There's bugger all spare capacity in the Elise cooling system and the K-series doesn't need any help when it comes to blowing its head gasket...

Overheating is likely to be down to loss of coolant or blowing head gasket.

Loss of coolant is often down to a loose hose connection at the radiator or leakage at the inlet manifold gasket, but as the cars are getting older now it could be pretty much anywhere from split/perished hoses etc.

[Tim3003]

There are no leaks or blockages as far as I can see. The coolant header tank was empty though (!) I've put in a pint and the level's stayed where it should be. Would that be enough to cause the problem?
I will keep an eye it in future. It's going in for servicing next week so I'll make sure they check too.
Cheers.

[John D.]

Tim3003 said:

There are no leaks or blockages as far as I can see. The coolant header tank was empty though (!) I've put in a pint and the level's stayed where it should be. Would that be enough to cause the problem?
I will keep an eye it in future. It's going in for servicing next week so I'll make sure they check too.
Cheers.

Yes, that would be enough to cause the problem I believe. As said the coolant system on the Elise has barely any spare capacity. Just a little coolant loss starts to have a effect.

I had similar strange high temp readings on mine. Followed by realising coolant was disappearing. Eventually traced to a leak from the rad. Funny thing about it was coolant level would remain constant in normal driving, only dropping if I went out and really gave it the beans for a bit. Guess it took putting the rad under more pressure for it to leak.

I could'nt spot the leak myself but a specialist I took the car too smelt the coolant straight away when he was stood at the front of the car and quickly spotted a tell tale sign at the bottom corner of the rad.

Trouble is with the undertray on the car you are not going to get a pool of water appearing under the car when parked in your garage etc. Plus the leak is quite likely to be getting burnt off as you drive along to some extent anyway.