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Old 29th October 2009, 11:49   #1
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Wagon R Radiator Issues

Hi Guys,

I recently completed Chennai -> Salem -> Chennai trip (overall 1202 kms including a lot of local travel in Salem) in my trusty 9 yr old WagonR. The vehicle had completed 124K on the odo.

I faced the following problem:

On my way into salem from chennai past Dharmapuri, my car engine started heating up( the heat indicator in the dash started climbing to High). I thought that as I was doing 100+ for about 4.5 hrs the engine could have heated up and relaxed and brought the vehicle to about 60 kmph for some time. The problem eased up. But when I started to speed up the engine again started to heat up. So I completed my journey in 60s. After this I did a trip to local place ( about 40 kms from Salem)and again the engine started heating up. I checked if the coolant level is low. It was proper. Also the car did not heat up when idling. So I concluded that there should not be a problem with the coolant or radiator. So I thought that there must be some other serious problem. I showed the car to a mechanic in Salem. He diagnosed the problem as a blown fuse that controls the fan for cooling. He swapped a spare fuse. After that I could not check this and started by return journey to chennai. However i do a lot of incity trips and things are ok

Until I cross about 100 Kms there was no issues. But after that engine started heating up again. I stop at krishnagiri and check with the local maruti service station. They say that since I'd driven for some time with heated engine, the gaskets in the engine would have become weak and hence the engine is not getting cooled sufficiently. The solution proposed is that I leave the car with them and they take apart the engine and fix new gaskets. Time quoted is half a day. I ask if I can continue driving below 60kmph. They say yes. I however decide to come back to Salem. So I come back driving below 60kmph and the heat indicator shows normal through out.

On reaching Salem, I give the car back to the mechanic who fixed the fan fuse. He digs in and finds that my radiator is blocked and hence the problem. he cleans the radiator, takes the car on test drive to yercaud and there is no problem. The same night I bring the car and my family back to chennai. I touched 125 kmph on a few sections and the car behaved superbly. No issues.

Now I have a few open questions:

1. i've been servicing my car regularly and have had no issues with heating so far. How come this issue did not come up during regular servicing. I did even a service a week before the travel.

2. What is the best way to take care of radiator?

3. Is it ok to drive a car whose engine is getting heated up at a slower speed?

4. Given my case what other checks or maintenance work that I should be doing to comfort myself that the car is safe and some other part has not been damaged because of engine overheating.

Regards,
lsjey

Last edited by lsjey : 29th October 2009 at 11:53.
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Old 29th October 2009, 12:08   #2
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Classic case of radiator/water line blockage. Its advisable to get your radiator completely flushed and fill up new coolant at 20k kms and a thorough cleaning of cooling circuit at around 80k kms. This might not show up in regular city drives.

Never drive the car above 3/4 of temp guage level, especially prolonged usage at these temp level will cause problems including cylinder warping which are very expensive.

Since you took precautions NOT to over hear or seize the engine, you should be fine.
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Old 29th October 2009, 15:12   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaggu View Post
Classic case of radiator/water line blockage. Its advisable to get your radiator completely flushed and fill up new coolant at 20k kms and a thorough cleaning of cooling circuit at around 80k kms. This might not show up in regular city drives.
Jaggu,

Thanks for the information. What is the difference between radiator flushing and cleaning of cooling circuit? Can you please clarify? Is this not done in regular services?

Regards,
lsjey
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Old 4th August 2015, 16:15   #4
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Re: Wagon R Radiator Issues

Dear Brothers,

Have been observing a strange issue with my 3 year young, 80K run Wagon R (CNG).

I filled the coolant about 15 days back and now, its almost till the low level.

This is being done since the last month or so and the coolant is being used up very fast.

I checked for leaks and have not detected any.
Also, no white smoke or excessive water droplets from the exhaust could be seen.

What could be the reason for this?

Opened the radiator cap today when the engine was cold and saw that the coolant is till the brim here.
Just that the coolant container is almost empty!!

Unable to fathom the reason.
Pls. give your valuable suggestions.
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Old 4th August 2015, 17:39   #5
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Re: Wagon R Radiator Issues

You need to top it up asap.

Coolant is definite leaking. You need to check thoroughly while the engine is running in sufficiently hot condition -when it has reached the maximum. That time thermostat will open and circulation through radiator will start. If no external leaks, then God forbid - maybe internal leaks.
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