Incomprehensible collection thread - COOLING MISERY

[Richard]

I believe it's been confirmed that there's a mixture of Ethylene Glycol and OAT antifreeze in the system. I would keep flushing until the water is clean before doing anything else. Is there a product designed to flush this sort of thing out?

[Lacquer Peel]

 

It's getting cleaner.

Dishwasher tablets FTW.

[anonymous user]

^ around here that mix would probably be sold as a mocha with froth

[Kiltox]

Looks tasty

[Cleon-Fonte]

I thought you'd given up and turned to drink when I saw the first picture.

[Lacquer Peel]

It's still overheating on the A939. Doesn't overheat at three figure speeds on my private A road. Fuck knows.

[dollywobbler]

Triple figures means a lot of air through the rad compared to engine load. Steep hills means less air, potentially more load. What did the heater do this time?

 

As an aside, when I picked up my CX, and discovered the cooling fans weren't working, I had to get up to over 50mph before the temp gauge even considered going down. There's now like airflow to cool a rad.

[Lacquer Peel]

The heater went cold and didn't come back.

I've noticed the larger of the two cooling fans isn't working but I don't think that'd cause major overheating.

I'm beginning to think the radiator is clogged.

I have a spare radiator which seems fine from a car that used to spit its coolant on long journeys but didn't overheat. WCPGW?

[dollywobbler]

Heater cut out does suggest an air leak. No idea what the under-bonnet plumbing is like, but I'd be trying to park it so the expansion bottle is the highest point, then extend it with a plastic bottle and give all those hoses a good burping with the engine running.

 

A clogged rad would have definite cold spots - though this is easier to check on older cars where the rad isn't buried under pipes and cowling.

[Lacquer Peel]

It's quite accessible for a modern car, all of the pipes are easy to get at.

The radiator is a bumper off job unfortunately and covered in cooling fans and the air con radiator.

[Lacquer Peel]

 

It's in the garage today for pressure testing.

I left it there last night with the interior light on and put the key through the letterbox before I realised. Great job!

It's been behaving recently apart from the steep climb out of Glen Ferness.

Every time I refit the thermostat coolant gushes out of the surface between the block and the thermostat housing, that's with a new o ring and the thermostat fitted correctly. I don't get it, it didn't happen before I started fiddling about with it.

[alf892]

Thermostat sticking so it needs to be hotter to open? Generally I don't believe in sticking thermostats as they tend to work or not.

 

Then I had it happen on my Rover - every time I went to work in it it would boil and chuck a bit of water out on a particular hill. Checked it and it worked but could be seen to be a bit notchy when opening

[Lacquer Peel]

Yes that's my impression of thermostats too, they're binary.

 

Just had word back from the garage, exhaust gases in the coolant. Scrap it!

[Lacquer Peel]

http://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/cylinder-head-removal-new-beetle-golf-jetta-tdi-mk4-a4-body-alh-engine/ better get busy

[320touring]

ahh bugger! good luck, we're all counting on you!

[Lacquer Peel]

 

DECAPITATED.

 

The head seems okay, no cracks, but the head gasket is rusty around the holes for the coolant. I have a feeling the previous owner put plain water in after doing the head gasket.

Would that rust cause combustion gases in the coolant?

[Dave_Q]

Gotta get it pressure tested really, the cracks can be in bits you can't see so it's pointless putting it back together with just a visual inspection IMO.

 

 

I'd say it's pretty unlikely rusty coolant paths could cause gas leakage to be honest.

[Lacquer Peel]

Aye.

Another reconditioned, pressure tested head is going on anyway.