[200q20v] HELP, Overheating

[Neil Vonhof]

I literally just finished a trip from Seattle to the far Northeastern corner of
of Washington State. About 350 miles, over several mountain passes. Great fun,
really fast, I love this car!  BUT! as I arrived steam began pouring out from
under the hood. I had noticed the indicated temp slowly increasing throughout
the trip, but it never got up to overheat range. As I was arriving the temp
warning icon came on and then the steam began pouring out. I opened the hood and
found that it was coming out of the filler cap on the pastic reservoir
container. At that time the electric fan was not running. However, shortly the
fan kicked on and immediately the steam/overflow out of the filler cap stopped.
All this time the highest the temp guage ever showed was directly between the
two little dots. It never reached the right hand dot. After idling for awhile
the fan stopped and the steam began to flow again. I finally turned off the
engine andquite quickly the fan came back on, the steam again immediately
stopped. The fan ran for about 4 or 5 minutes and things calmed down. Even
though what seems like a lot of coolant sprayed around the engine, the reservior
is still almost full. When the steam was pouring out the cap the level of the
coolant was lower and bubbling very vigoroulsy. It was interesting how
immediately it stopped when the fan came on. (Maybe the extra electric water
pump kicks in at the same time?).
So what's going on? Of course thermostat comes to mind. I hope to be able to get
back to Seattle (on Sat) before I have to do any mechanic work. I'm far from
home right now and looking for advice.
BTW, I am accessing my home computer right now remotely right now through a very
cool web application called Go To My PC. Check it out at:
http://www.gotomypc.com
I have no affiliation, but right now I'm really happy to have discovered this
service. I wouldnt be able to contact the list without it. Thanks in advance for
any help you can give.
Neil Vonhof
1991 200q20v, 135,000 miles
IA Stage 3


"Beer, Jerald" wrote:

> OK, gauge is acting wierd. This a.m. gauge would peg itself then go back to
> setting. As car warmed up gauge would alternately peg itself or run around
> 165-17o and then go back to peg. MF sensor replaced about a year ago. All
> other gauges are normal. Am I looking for a bad ground wire, and if so where
> do I look? Other? TIA
> Regards,
> Jerry
> 91 200qa
> _______________________________________________
> 200q20v mailing list
> 200q20v at audifans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v