Corsa-B.uk - Vauxhall, Opel and Holden Corsa B Owners Club

I have a 1.2l 8v corsa, and recently I changed the head gasket, water pump, thermostat and flushed the cooling system in the process. Before I did this, the temperature gauge would rarely rise and only even then to about 95 degrees (maximum) in stop start traffic before going back to normal.

Since then, the car goes up to 95 degrees quite quickly where it stays and up to 100 in stop start traffic. The fan kicks in at around 97 and stays on for a bit but the temperature doesn't really drop till I start driving normally again where it'll go back to around 95. When it's 100 degrees I can see steam from the bonnet and am worried that something will blow, and I am having to top up the coolant quite regularly.

I can't see any leaks, the thermostat definitely works as the radiator top hoses are both warm and the head was never cracked/warped so I'm worried as this hasn't happened before and anything that could have failed has already been changed. The oil is normal colour and was changed two months ago, any ideas on what might be wrong? I was thinking maybe the radiator is clogged but I'm just guessing.

On a side note, when the engine stays that hot for a while the gearstick becomes really stiff and it's a nightmare changing between gears with the reverse gear grinding when I try to change to it. Oddly though, it goes back to normal when the engine's cooled down

check that when the head was done that no pipes or wires were blocked when it was being put back together

when you see the steam best advice is to pop the bonnet and try see where its coming from, yea i know that sounds like a stupid idea but its the only way for sure that your going to know where the problem is coming from

have a look at your heater matrix on the inside of the car for any likes coz on many cars these fail and cause the headgasket to go

Sounds like theres still air in the cooling system. try bleeding it again and see what happens. also like the other guy said, check for blockages ect. Also maybe worth putting a pressure tester on it and see if that brings anything up.

as already mentioned it could be air in the cooling system, but since your having to top up the coolant quite often and you cant see a leak it could also be the coolant tank cap is fubar and needs replacing.

Just noticed that when the engine is cold and I start it, there is coolant dripping quite quickly from what looks like the water pump! Gutted because I only just changed this the other month, but if it's only leaking when the engine is running does that mean the pump is knackered?

i would replace the pump & seal if its leaking