Well once again I have another drama with my TF. This morning I noticed that my temp gauge started spiking so I pulled into a servo and found that the radiator was full.

I kept an eye on it as I drove home and It seemed to spike upwards as the rev range went higher, and then when I was stopped at lights it seemed to settle back down to it's normal half way point. It hasn't hit the red yet but it's never done this before so I am a little concerned. When I got home I lifted the bonnet and noticed that the usual loud fan noise was instead a very weak dying sound and I could smell a slight burning smell and the smell of coolant.

I'm thinking it could possibly be the radiator fan dying, so I'm going to look at replacing the radiator with one from a wrecker, and replace both large hoses and flush and refill and see if that does anything. I seem to have been losing a lot of coolant lately and have been refilling the radiator every week although everytime I get under the car there are no puddles other than from when the air-con has been on so I got nfi where it's been going.

Has anyone else come across this kind of thing before?

Well once again I have another drama with my TF. This morning I noticed that my temp gauge started spiking so I pulled into a servo and found that the radiator was full.

I kept an eye on it as I drove home and It seemed to spike upwards as the rev range went higher, and then when I was stopped at lights it seemed to settle back down to it's normal half way point. It hasn't hit the red yet but it's never done this before so I am a little concerned. When I got home I lifted the bonnet and noticed that the usual loud fan noise was instead a very weak dying sound and I could smell a slight burning smell and the smell of coolant.

I'm thinking it could possibly be the radiator fan dying, so I'm going to look at replacing the radiator with one from a wrecker, and replace both large hoses and flush and refill and see if that does anything. I seem to have been losing a lot of coolant lately and have been refilling the radiator every week although everytime I get under the car there are no puddles other than from when the air-con has been on so I got nfi where it's been going.

Has anyone else come across this kind of thing before?

When i saw the title of the thread i thought it was a heatercore leaking -and a empty radiator....but hmm i have no idea! how quickly is it spiking? like as you accelerate it looks more like a rev gauge....or just slowly goes up?

Goes up slowly but then when I stop at lights it drops rapidly.

Goes up slowly but then when I stop at lights it drops rapidly.

quite the opposite of when you have a cracked/leaking heator core....temp stays cool while driving and spikes when still!

sorry i can't help, im sure madmagna will tune in and help ya out soon.

This is sounding a lot more like an electrical issue to me.

If you were getting a hot reading at standstill and cool off when moving that would make more sense as the airflow is doing what the fan does at low speed / stand still

Was the OP also the person with dash light issues? have not looked lol Sounding like you have some serious elec issues and need to get this looked at properly asap

Haha yeah same guy. I pulled out the radiator and found that the engine fan had blown out and shattered the black plastic all around it and melted parts of the blades :eeek:

Picked up a replacement engine fan from the wreckers and put it in and it still isn't running so I think Madmagna is spot on about it being an electrical issue too. Off to the auto electrician now hopefully he can have a look this arvo.

How did ya go mate back and running ok?

Yeah I forgot to check the first thing I always check, and it turned out to be the 40amp fuse had blown. I couldn't find one at Repco or SCA or AutoBarn so I just bridged the blown one and now it's running fine. Took her for a 300km run and the temp needle didn't move.

No doubt something else will **** it'self tomorrow hahaha.

Yeah I forgot to check the first thing I always check, and it turned out to be the 40amp fuse had blown. I couldn't find one at Repco or SCA or AutoBarn so I just bridged the blown one and now it's running fine. Took her for a 300km run and the temp needle didn't move.

No doubt something else will **** it'self tomorrow hahaha.


That bridged 40amp fuse dont sound good. wouldnt leave it like that. Put a 30 in till u sort it.. Fuses are there for a reason. Unless you want a bush fire..:)

Wreckers (or wreackers as some here call them) will have plenty of them mate. Mits also has them, if you are really stuck give PM me your address and I will post one to you as I would hate to see your car go up in flames

Without bothering to walk out to the car, is that 40A fuse one of the ones with plastic window on the top - they unbolt from underneath, don't they?

Ended up finding a fuse for it this morning so it's all good. They aren't bolted from the bottom the one I replaced just pulled out with pliers.

Glad to hear you've got a fuse in it, and it sorted for now.

Just keep and eye on it for a few days, just in case the fan that wore out had any wiring hot before the fuse blew. Listen for fans runnning OK at the end of a drive etc - though 300kms is a pretty comprehensive test-drive!!