I just purchased my 05 MCS JCW on Monday and have a quick question. I was driving home from work yesterday and the car acted like it was going to overheat as the temperature got up to the second to last tick mark on the temp gauge. It was about 80 or so degrees outside and I was in traffic but I would not think this should happen. I was reading my owners manual last night and read that the car should normally ride with the temperature gauge in the center but mine even when driving on the highway runs at the 3/4 mark all the time. Do I need to do something with this ASAP as I only have about 4K left on the warranty. I hate to sound paranoid but the car is new to me and I love it so I want to make sure everything is ok.

 

If you have warranty left on it, I would bring it to the dealership and have them fix it.

 

I would take it right over to them if I wasn't 4hrs away .

 

Ah ha, now that could be an issue.

 

I am wondering if I may need to do a coolant flush or change the thermostat, but of course I am new to this car and would not know how to do either .

 

Have you checked your coolant level in the expansion tank? Looked for signs obvious leaks of coolant on the floor of your garage or driveway? Have you checked for a coolant leak at the thermostat on the drivers side of the head? Have you checked if the cooling fan is operating at the radiator, the fan should come on if you start the car and then turn on the air conditioning ( the fan should come on regardless of the engine being cold or hot)? Hope this helps.

 

 

Get it to the dealer. You can have it towed for free with the warranty.

 

Cool, bad pun. Lets assume you have air in the cooling system. Buy some distilled water at the car parts store. Fill your coolant reservoir. There is a large diameter cooling hose running parallel to the top of the radiator. Midway down it's length is a 1 cm diameter plug with a cruciate slot. Turn the plug 2 turns counter clockwise with a standard screw driver. Air will escape through the plug. After all air is purged tighten down the plug and restore the coolant to it's proper level in the reservoir. Start the car and drve it a few miles. Let the car cool down and then repeat the above. Bleed the air out, if any, and restore the coolant level. The distilled water will not appreciably alter the coolant water ratio.

 

Well this sounds relatively easy to do so I will try it. I don't think I want to have the car towed 150+ miles to Charleston if I don't have to.

 

Hopefully it will work !