Temperature light on...panic, oh no!!!

Hi all, bought what we thought was a lovely freelander from a dodgy pair of fellas last night. We managed to drive it home no problem but when on the motorway today the temperature light came on. Opened the bonnet, the pipe at the front was red hot. Parked up for 10 mins, then the light went off. It's been fine all day but we're not confident in it now and worried about the reason the light came on. A Google search suggests anything from a fuel pump to head gasket any advice or suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.

Ladies and gents, its a 2005 1.8 k series

Some idea of what model / version may be of help .............
Year, fuel type, manual / automatic, engine size etc

Edit : beaten to it ....

Can you smell coolant burning. Is there residue of coolant leaking from the engine block. Do you still have the service records detailing any work on head gasket replacement or parts replaced recently. Is there cracks around the expansion tank cap. Top hose should be hot as this would enter the radiator first open thermostat then cool on the way down. Does this feel soft or hard. disgusting sorry folks. If hard a blockage in radiator soft thermostat failure to open. Professor Nodge will arrive soon for better advise.

Is there a "temperature light" on a K Series Freelander?

Sarloucon said:

A Google search suggests anything from a fuel pump to head gasket any advice or suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.

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There's a whole lot of things to check before condemning the HG.

First off, does it have any coolant in the bottle?
If so, are there loads of little cracks around the coolant bottle neck?

When it gets hot, does all the coolant disappear, only to return when it cools down?

Which pipe was hot? If it's a rad pipe, then it's going to be hot when the engine up to temperature.

Thinking the HG has failed, should be the last thing, as many other other things can fail too.

GrumpyGel said:

Is there a "temperature light" on a K Series Freelander?

Click to expand...

There is on the facelift for all engines and the 1.8 gets a low coolant level light too.

I don't remember seeing them on my sons 1.8, they have had plenty of chance to come on these past few weeks

It's a good idea to check what lights up when the ignition is first turned on. Peeps have been known to remove bulbs to hide faults. Some hide them with black tape if they stay on.

If the low level coolant warning light is driven oft the cr*p positioned low level switch on the later coolant reservoirs... Then be careful as the coolent has to go worryingly low to trigger it.