Selective overheating...

1999 Jimny 70K on the clock...

OK, when I bought this vehicle it overheated and went back to the garage. Apparently it had previously had a head gasket fitted but was bodged. The garage removed the head, sent it of to be re surfaced and then reassembled. They also fitted a new viscous fan, new stat and reverse flushed the block and rad. That then seemed to solve the problem.

Now this morning I took SWMBO to Tesco's (about an 8 mile journey), due to a Corsa sitting on my bumper I did raise the speed to about 75 and drove at this speed for a few minutes. It was then that I noticed the temp guage climbing. (It normally sits at half way). This was around a few minutes before we reached our destination. Whilst she was running hot she started to hold back (expected that really, and when we came to a stand still the revs dropped lots lower on tick over as normal to the point that the oil light was flickering).

Went and did our shopping (about an hour or so). Returned to the vehicle, stuck the heater to hot and drove home keeping the speed to under 55. No overheating or probs. Temp guage climbed to half way and stayed there...

I'm starting to think the rad is blocked. Now before I shell out £100 for a new one I thought I'd ask your opinions. I just HATE having an unreliable motor

Thanks in advance.

might be worth taking it out and giving it a clean yourself. i did that with mine as it heated up a bit too quicly for my liking. Also check the fins are not all bent over etc.

Cheers for that, I'll have a looksie.

Thermostat? Our Landcruiser did this, drove fine no probs, but when we had it loaded with a 2tonne trailer and pulling up a hill the temp gauge started to rise.Might be worth looking into.
Easy to test yourself anyway.

Second vote for the Rad .. when driving in low though sticky mud, ours overheats. The source of teh problem ... Rad full of silt and mud, plus lots of bent fins.

New rad has been sat in teh garage for the last 6 months waiting to be fitted... Summer Job I think !

Cheers guys, it's had two stats so I'm pretty sure it's not that. Will drain and pull out the rad, I have a feeling that the previous owner has used magic sealer in the past when the HG was bodged