Hi All, I bought a 2004 K74 in march. Unfortunately it overheated after less than 50 miles and had to be recovered home. Since then I have spent over £1200 on trying to rectify the problem andI'm running out of ideas ( and money) ALSO foundout it's had the engine replaced at some point and the new one is a COPY (made under licence Hyundai H100 ) which has a couple of small differences
So Far......
New built up head from LEC
New belts and tensioners
New water pump
New crank pulley
New Viscous fan
New radiator and cap
Removed stat ( still waiting for the replacement)
She still overheats real quick!!!!

Alan

Is it losing/using water?. There are a couple very small rubber pipes down by the turbo ..come on of metal pipes from behind the block , also where the metsl pipe goes into thermostat housing, the rubber grommet . Both those areas are known for leaks through age related degradation

No way of knowing if it loses water in normal running cos it overheats so quickly, but it doesn't leak on the drive when iddling etc

Problem with the pipes at the back of the engine , its close to the manifold and evaporates as fast as it comes out.
Check your water level...go for a drive , see if it drops. First thing is to determine water loss or not.

It maybe that you have an airlock in the system. You are doing the right thing by limiting driving as you don't want it too hot