Hi Everybody,
We bought a F Reg Escort Popular about a month ago. There were no apparent problems with the car except that the blowers did not blow hot air when the heating was on.
Yesterday when we were driving home the engine started to overheat and there was a burning smell coming from the bonnet.
The AA guy thought the problem was a small leak from near the water pump and said that effectively, we had been driving with v little water in the radiator. He filled the radiator with water and a bottle of antifreeze, ran the engine and sent us on our way. We told him we bought the car for £100 and only planned on keeping it til the MOT in August. He thought that as long we kept the radiator filled, we would not need to fix the leak before this time.
A couple of miles down the road, the temperature guage for the engine again started to climb and the engine got v hot.
He came back again. He felt the water tubes and said that as half of them were hot and the other half cold, he thinks the trouble may be the thermostat. He told us to replace this and something called the gasket.
Could someone tell me what these things are and why they would cause the engine to overheat. Also, are the problems related to the leak near the water pump and the lack of heating in the car? As the car is so cheap, we were hoping to fix these things ourselves using the car manual? Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for all you help and suggestions.
We bought a F Reg Escort Popular about a month ago. There were no apparent problems with the car except that the blowers did not blow hot air when the heating was on.
Yesterday when we were driving home the engine started to overheat and there was a burning smell coming from the bonnet.
The AA guy thought the problem was a small leak from near the water pump and said that effectively, we had been driving with v little water in the radiator. He filled the radiator with water and a bottle of antifreeze, ran the engine and sent us on our way. We told him we bought the car for £100 and only planned on keeping it til the MOT in August. He thought that as long we kept the radiator filled, we would not need to fix the leak before this time.
A couple of miles down the road, the temperature guage for the engine again started to climb and the engine got v hot.
He came back again. He felt the water tubes and said that as half of them were hot and the other half cold, he thinks the trouble may be the thermostat. He told us to replace this and something called the gasket.
Could someone tell me what these things are and why they would cause the engine to overheat. Also, are the problems related to the leak near the water pump and the lack of heating in the car? As the car is so cheap, we were hoping to fix these things ourselves using the car manual? Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for all you help and suggestions.