Howdy Hay Too - Wipers.

[Tayne]

I have a collection card (my postie was here at half three!) so I’ll stop by the sorting office in the way to work tomorrow.

[anonymous user]

This is a remedy to that perennial problem of Audi designing cars that dont handle well.

 

Remember the first TT?

Was also done on the older Porsche 911, where great lumps of iron were fitted inside the front bumper to keep the nose down

[Tayne]

Picked up the kit this morning, am I supposed to pour the fluid into the tube or just soak one of the cotton swabs and put that in the tube?

 

I’m at work now so will try and do it at lunchtime.

[cort16]

I think the cotton wool is meant to act as some kind of Filter I wouldn’t worry about it. The instructions are basically this

 

http://www.blocktester.com/instructions.htm

[Tayne]

Engine’s been idling 15mins or so and we’re at 61 degrees.

 

Bottle seems wet around the seam, not sure if it’s split...

[Ghosty]

Think I prefer it debadged.

Easier to polish.

 

I'd say it's harder for them, they can't tell as easily if it's diesel or not.

[dome]

Engine’s been idling 15mins or so and we’re at 61 degrees.

 

Bottle seems wet around the seam, not sure if it’s split...

 

 

How much is a new expansion tank? I'd be tempted to change it if its cheap enough, especially if the old one is discoloured or has any sign of cracks.

[Tayne]

Right, i ran the car at (mostly idle ) for 50 minutes.

It took the first 25minutes to get u to 82 degrees and stayed there (i believe they're supposed to run at 90).

The radiator took a long time to get warm and heated from the top first.

The coolant level rose up and vented but i had overfilled it on Tuesday.

 

What didn't happen was excessive leakage, pressurisation or exhaust gasses.

There were a few drips (likely related to my overfilling) but no pavement pizza.

There weren't the spurts of water under pressure that happened on Saturday or Tuesday morning.

And i used the sniff tester three or four times but it didn't show in discolouration and maintained the same colour as the untainted liquid in the bottle (until i tested the gasses from the exhaust pipe).

 

I'm now of the option that the head gasket is good, the bottle would be better off replaced, the thermostat may not be right and perhaps something else is wrong.

 

Its going into a trusted garage on Monday.

[cort16]

Sounds promising

[Tayne]

Yes it does, you must send me your address so I can sent the tester back.

[skattrd]

Fingers crossed, it doesn't sound too bad.

I've found diesel motors take forever to get to temp when idling and never get really hot, so maybe the thermostat is ok, but if you're going to change the coolant/reservoir it might be worth changing, Make sure you get a decent 'stat as I've seen several fail quickly.

[gm]

so the guy at the first garage was talking bollocks / just guessing about the gasket ? definitely sounds promising, I'm glad to hear the gas test worked out ok.

 

it has had two thermostats recently, one from europarts and one from gsf, the original one was manky, as was the radiator switch so it probably needs a good flush.

[Tayne]

I suppose, it was running at 90 when under load on Saturday after it had lost coolant.

I'll have the reader plugged in for the 17mile run home tomorrow night and then 25 mile run to the garage on Monday morning.

[Tayne]

so the guy at the first garage was talking bollocks / just guessing about the gasket ? 

 

Lets go with lying.

[skattrd]

it has had two thermostats recently, one from europarts and one from gsf, the original one was manky, as was the radiator switch so it probably needs a good flush.

 

I'd be tempted to go with new expansion bottle, make sure it's properly bled and some radweld type stuff in, just in case.

[gm]

I tested the original and the ecp thermostats in a pan if water and they both opened, albeit slowly. you need to move the alternator to get to the thermostat housing, it's a right pain to get tension off the belt

[garethj]

Were you running it with the radiator cap off? If so the system doesn’t get pressurised so you might not see as much leaking.

 

The cap pressurises the system so the boiling point of water is higher, it’s the air to boil ratio that fixes the radiator calculations so basically if you get a higher boiling point you need a smaller radiator.

 

Anyway, as the head gasket now seems healthy it might be worth spreading some talcum powder around suspected leakage areas, running the car with the cap on and then it should be easy to see where the water is pissing from

[Tayne]

Were you running it with the radiator cap off?

No.

[DeeJay]

Right, the garage called back. They don't have the best reputation for being honest but are right next door and my trusted mechanic is away.

They've told me its HGF and the receipt reads, "checked over for coolant leak, pressure tested, no obvious leak found. Road tested up to temperature, carried out block test, Co2 present in system"

After telling me this, they started down the line of "do you want to sell it" etc.

Needless to say, i'm slightly skeptical.

 

 

Seems like this garage have earned their reputation.

[Bren]

Our vectra was losing 400ml of coolant a day.

No steam from the exhaust because it had a dpf.

Garage said a sniffer test would be no use because it measured HC - no use on a diesel.

If the tank has ruptured there may be another issue.

[Bren]

Does the car have an egr cooler? Another possibility. I saw a video on youtube where mechanic disconnected actuator on the turbo on a car that was losing coolant - if the coolant loss reduces ot points towards the egr cooler.

[Tayne]

Our vectra was losing 400ml of coolant a day.

No steam from the exhaust because it had a dpf.

Garage said a sniffer test would be no use because it measured HC - no use on a diesel.

If the tank has ruptured there may be another issue.

The colour change is different for a diesel and I did manage to achieve a colour change by testing from the exhaust pipe so the testing kit is valid.

 

Coolant expansion bottles are a known failure on these (suggested by my mechanic and the chap it’s going to on Monday) and many other cars, my e46 split its coolant bottle a few years ago and it wasn’t due to any other issue.

[Tayne]

I drove this home after work today, 17 miles.

 

I had a code reader hooked up to give me the exact coolant temperature and it sat around 90 degrees, lowest in normal running was 84 and highest was a brief 96 cresting a hill.

I'm not sure if this level of variation is normal, i know the gauges on the car are damped so will sit at an indicated 90 but in reality will vary.

 

I did another sniff test when i got home, there was a little pressure in the cap but nothing excessive and no detection of fumes.

[Tayne]

Today's been interesting.

 

A 25 mile run up to a little one man band garage in the country, code reader temps were varying from 88 to 95.

I ended up waiting about an hour so the car was examined when cold.

No signs of coolant loss anywhere other than the bottle but pressurising the bottle could not generate a leak.

Waterpump was ruled out (it didn't want to screech on start up when i was there), and the conclusion of "perhaps it is the head gasket..." was given.

Steel seal was suggested as it has an apparent 99.9% success rate.

 

I drove back down the road, pulled up and took the bonnet off.

There were traces of coolant on the bottle seam but the vent was dry...

 

I'm going to give a few days and perhaps put another bottle on it.

[oldcars]

B2444838-7DDF-4AEE-A5A7-2E6CAA27C518.jpeg

I have those plates. Not the food which is a shame. Cups and all. The full set. 

[bigfella2]

I hope it's not the head gasket, but lots of PD's pass the sniff test but still have head gasket failure. Mine had similar symptoms. Does the fluid level increase quite a bit when the cap is released?

[Tayne]

Does the fluid level increase quite a bit when the cap is released?

 

 

No

[bigfella2]

Might as well try a new expansion bottle like you suggested then, you would be daft not to try it. Fingers crossed for you fella.

[Tayne]

This happened between rainstorms.

 

 

It’s a nice new clear bottle and when I started the engine I could see coolant flowing into the top.

However after a few revs with the cap on I was getting a weep from the vent...

I’m hoping that was down to me overfillingjng as it’s parked on a hill (max level at the front, over the vent at the back).

I’m off for a long test drive in a moment.

[Tayne]

I’ve just been on a 104 mile test drive, everything seemed fine from behind the wheel but I checked when I got back and found a concerning level drop but the bottle was dry on the outside.

 

 

I opened the cap and got a gentle release of pressure to get to this level.

 

 

Not really sure what to think now.