Filter and oil changed, yes it has an oil cooler, I think it purely for the gearbox though! The reason I don’t think it’s the engine is it does not give off that much heat, I have felt hot K series engines and this was not, down hill in neutral and temp came right down! Confused!!!
I have calmed down now and thought about things! I neglected to remember my brother had this car until the gearbox went wrong, he has no mechanical sympathy or knowledge a car gets repaired when it actually breaks down regardless of noises or warning lights! Checked the coolant level, topped up slightly, bleed the system, 2 mins of air out of the bleed screw! Topped up again and the gauge seems steady will drive it later! Gearbox warning light off, could have been due to heat!?
Still overheating under load, the cooling fan brings it back down quite quick, more air perhaps or even the expansion tank cap?
It's a possibility, I've heard if leaking caps before. Ironically I think they seal better when hot and expand? Overheating, logically says the cooling isn't doing it's job, or, something is making it get hotter than usual. So we're working on ruling out that first one... The cooling system I guess is entirely that pink water flowing around the system? So what does that leave us with? Not enough coolant? The radiator isn't doing it's job to cool the coolant down? The pump isn't pushing the cool water through ? There's a blockage preventing the water from circulating? When cold, are you able to squish some pipes and feel the flow, or see it come back to the expansion tank?
Generally I have found air will cause overheating with or without load,on cars I have fitted with a PRT system there is generally never a need to worry about air,the thermostat position seems to be the problem on the K series,as for yours I would be trying another cap first and checking the pipes, as above squashing them to see if there is a clear route back to the bottle,is the bottom pipe staying cold and then warming up when the fan cuts in thermostat opens,do the pipes feel unusually hard like they are under pressure.
I have bleed the system, left it standing and fitted a new cap, drove 100 miles yesterday with no problems, still need to keep an eye on things but getting better!
