Today I broke down on the motorway outside Edinburgh.
Completely overheated. Blasted all the fans on in the car at high heat with the Aircon on while I scouted for a layby. Couldn't understand what was going on. Then all the heat from the fans stopped so I was even more confused that I was only getting cold air.
Found a layby pulled over and engine off.
I lifted the bonnet and very carefully opened the water coolant tank. It was completely empty and I had checked it before my journey!
So I put a little G30 in it as not to shock the system, it definitely reacted.
Only for me to see steam all over the engine and water to spit out of the pipe under the oil pressure sensor.
So! Long story short. Called my breakdown cover. The AA turned up in 25min.
Boom! new pipe replaceed in 10min, some tests done on engine to see if the water was contaminated but was all clear.
Carried on my journey with my friend to the beach and all was fine.
A bad thing turned out to be all resolved in under an hour. I count myself lucky this day. Pipe was very accessible.
P.S. As for the car fans blowing out cold air, well that's what happens when you have no water in the system to exchange the heat from the system to the air.