overheat

[moorefun69]

So driving to work in my usually reliable 2.4 tdi only like 10 miles and my van starts to die I look down and the temp gauge is on the end stop hot! immediately I switch it off and coast to a stop, turn the ignition back on and the temp gauge starts to drop from hot back toward normal, so I start the engine which starts as normal straight away I then finish the last mile off my journey and as I pull in the temp gauge has come back to normal, I check water resovoir and looks empty, I loosen cap lots of his hissing then after a few seconds the spitting water etc. So I leave till dinner time refill about 5 litres of water to fill line and left it to run whilst reving the engine gently for 30 mins and temp goes to normal and holds there, heaters work fine checked oil and it's nice and clear top and bottom, I then park it up and drive it home at 3 pm all normal and I stopped at shop left running still normal no water loss that I can see but seems fine now any ideas. In short a freak overheat and now seems fine help anyone???

Like I said I check water about once a week and the oil normally runs spot on.

[loot]

I'd replace the stat as a precautionary measure in the mean time and watch the gauge and water level

[mattie7701]

Hello all mine does exactly the same, I just bought the van after was assured the oil cooler had been replaced, as oil bottle was black with oil and no water, havew a invoice for new oilcooler and other bit?, drove home half way and this squeeling like a fanbelt sliping, stopped opened the bonnet and water pump was squeeling, noticed water punmp had talkcum power on it,?, so stopped engine puffed some more on it from bottle in door pocket, hey presto it shut up, got all the home and then anther 40mile round trip but this is when the temp acted like yours even slight los of power, pulled over no water so in local grave yard filed up watering can topped up to line drove rest way home, temp did ficker up and down a few times,went to garage said head gastkit gone but not sure,grrrrrr .please help as need for work and on tight family budget,Thank you
p.s could this happen if the person before didn't clean out the cooling system, and is it my water pump that's shot due to noise?..

[knobby1]

In both cases....the coolant has to be coming from somewhere, is either leaking from reservoir cap, pump seal, split hose etc...Squealing belt also indicates an issue, maybe a tight pump or idler/alternator pulley.

Lord Knobrot

[bambi mk 1]

You wont have a head gasket problem but you may have a cracked cyl head.Never top up an overheating engine with cold water .