Expert: Sean Halliday - 2/26/2009

Question
my car is over heating all water keeps coming out of the water bottle when i take the cap of when the car has cooled down.The garage has said my head gasket has gone this was caused by my fan not kicking in when the engine warmed up. I would like to know if my fan not working would cause my head gasket to go, or if the head gasket had gone first would this result in my fan not working.

Answer
If the engine got really hot because of the fan not working then it would  blow the gasket.A blown gasket will not stop the fan from working.In nearly all overheating cases,the gasket will blow if the engine is allowed to go into the red.I dont know if it did or how long it ran hot.Any engine running in the red can be seriously damaged in a short time.Im wondering how the garage determined your fan wasnt working.They would have to warm the engine and knowing Renaults with this problem,the engine wouldnt stand the coolant pressure and not start the fan.