F Reg Volvo 240GL Estate Overheating

I have an F Reg Volvo 240 GL estate car, bought from new with about 157000
miles on clock. It started to overheat today at start of journey when it
went into the red. As soon as I got a decent speed it returned to the
normal middle position on the temperature gauge. The water level was a
little low but nothing too bad. I topped up anyway. The temperature rose
one more time for a few seconds then came down again. It was not
particularly related to standing in a traffic queue but just randomly while
driving on a 25 mile journey. It happened again on the return journey,
again not necessarily while waiting in traffic. I also have a Kenlow
electric fan that cuts in when its thermostat turns on - this was installed
when I used to tow a caravan to help reduce engine temperature in slow
traffic. The electric fan works OK as it overruns when turning the engine
off after a journey.

Has anyone got any ideas what makes it overheat intermittently like this as
I am worried about reliability on long journeys.

Thanks

Graham Brooker

 

Graham, when was the last time that the rad fluids were changed, or the
thermostat?

If it is intermittent, it could be a good chunk of crud floating around
or the thermostat sticking closed. Alternate may be the sensor itself.

 

The car may not be overheating - there is a compensation board on the
back of the cluster that modifies the temperature signal feeding the
gauge. This thing is prone to problems. There's lot's of info at
http://www.brickboard.com, punch "compensation board" into the search
feature. For example http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=746201

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
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