Ohh I say, HEADGASKETASTROPHY!!! RUN LIKE FUCK!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! Oh, actually it's quite alright, stand down.

[Des]

I clock up a lot of miles in an old campervan these days, it's a freaky one with the engine tucked up its batty, makes it easy to forget about so I must exercise discipline in checking the levels at least every second or third fuelling, never really needs a drop so bit of a surprise when the low coolant light started flashing one day whilst doing the motorway slog, slowing down a little had the light go off fairly promptly, hit the next services to top up and all was fine until it happened again. It was a few weeks before I found time to investigate, it's a queer setup of a cooling system, volkswanger put the engine and radiator at opposite ends of the vehicle, low points and high points for the coolant to contend with, it's like the plumbing round the back of a laundromat, a bit of a design fault is the way the pressure cap is wet, unlike a proper system where the header tank is half air with the coolant just meeting the cap when fully warmed, this has a tank filled right up and coolant is displaced into an overflow pot while maintaining system pressure. Nothing wrong with that other than the increased risk of a bit of shit getting under the pressure cap valve, and that cap needs to be working perfectly or coolant all blows out for a meltdown. So had a bit of a look, no signs of leak anywhere, temp needle sits in the same spot it always has, just no amount of topping up and bleeding prevents the low warning flashing about every 50 or so miles and having to burp and gurgle the bastard, this is a huge pain in the arse hoofing out a mattress and shit from over the engine. Well it is a pedozvagen. Symptoms are looking very early stage head gasket, but no fair! I did it all last summer, used new gaskets, decent ones, no scabby reconditioned with Lidl paint and Poundland araldite rubbish here, and the surfaces were utter perfection, the liners were new and I checked protrusion, fucks sake the heads were new, I did the tighten, loosen, tighten, loosen, thing when I screwed it all down so everything should be clamped together all snug and even, it was nearer to engineering perfection than I've ever been, enough to give me the horn. I begin to suspect a porous head but luckily before I start murdering shit apart the good bit of my brain makes a rare showing and points me at the LPG, the vapouriser, this baby has the gas entering in liquefied form, boiled of into vapour by going through a steel pipe inside a water jacket that's teed to the heater hoses, and that particular vape has been working there for 5 years, prior to that it did about 5 years in an old snotter of a Rangie  that I ran into the ground, probably fair to assume something's rotted through, so let's have a look.

 

 

 

Here's the bugger unbolted, underside showing signs of weepage, on the right track then, let's split it open.

 

 

Now I'm worried, plenty of sludgy shit, but the gaspipe, that eyebrow looking twat on the right isn't rusted as I was cockily expecting, appears to be fashioned in stainless, oh bollocks now where do I look? Not very far is the answer.

 

 

 

This brass tube connects gas chambers either side of the water jacket, the green O ring is fairly chewed by corrosion in its aluminium seating below, booya!

 

 

 

 

Now with hindsight, had it been what I'd assumed, a leak from the liquid pipe, into a heated jacket, I'd have had ballooned hoses and a pretty violent expulsion of coolant along with fire, brimstone and utter hordes of singed kittens in my wake, THAT'S WMD BITCHES. It was a leak from what's probably a pressure regulating bit, parping slowly into the waterworks so takes a couple of hours to displace a half pint which puts the light on. About £25 for all the seals and diaphragms to rebuild or £80 to replace the whole thing? Decisions decisions. Probably saved about 25 grand in fuel during its 10 year life, I splashed out on a new one, and the old snotter drives noticeably better for it.

[DSdriver]

Analyse the problem, come to a conclusion, take the thing apart and find you were almost right. Story of my life. You are my long lost twin AICMFP. 

[fatharris]

Sod it, break the bank, that way it'll never need doing again*.

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[andrew e]

I'm sure on mine you had to park with the nose in the air to bleed it through the front grill. I actually thought the whole central heating stylee set up was quite ingenious.

 

Spend the money....

[mercrocker]

Agghhhh, this thread reminds me I have put my T25 away for winter with an as-yet un-diagnosed tendency to chuff coolant back up through the second overflow tank.  New cap just ordered in case its that.....

[cobblers]

Haha it's also reminded me that I still own a T25 that's been bunged in the garage at my mums.

 

I don't even have the 2nd overflow tank fitted, I took it off when I changed the engine and for some reason I never put it back on, I just left the pipe dangling down which somehow ended up wound round the alternator belt and shredded.

 

Never seem to have any problems without it - I just fill the main tank to the brim and it'll spunk approx 150ml of coolant out over a long run leaving an inch of breathing room in the header tank which never seems to drop even over thousands of miles with 30 year old pipes and stuff.