Club 80-90 Forums

Hello internet!

This is my first post, so please be kind...

So about 2 months ago, Moritz the 1983 doka came to live with us and begin to slowly drain our bank account like a gloomy, demanding teenagerand whilst I have a million questions, this is the most pressing:

All was well (to a point) and the list of little jobs were growing (as they do) and then I noticed a small patch of coolan, more or less under the thermostat housing and after a Google search or two, and seeing umpteen thread both here and on other forums it seemed the general censensus was that the plastic thermostat housing had developed a small leak as they do.

Keep an eye on it me thinks, add it to the list and on with my day.

A few days later I noticed a pretty major, constant leak and I thought, we'll that doesn't look good, and after a little look in the back I saw that the heater matrix return house was resting nicely on the drive shaft, and I'd burnt a lovely hole almost completely through!


I managed to get home, cut the piece of pipe out, replaced the section, reconnected it to the copper Connection (?)
In the downpipe (that was badly corroded as it happens) and now I have a pretty constant drip, which gets worse once the engine is fully up to temp.


My plan is to cut out as much of the copper as I can, whilst still leaving a decent bit of' tail' and then refit the new piece of hose as my feeling is that the seal is garbage due to the dodgy brazing of the copper fitting and as it was all corroded and sharp I could barely get the pipe on**.

My main fear is that the 16mm pipe is going to be bigger than the rail I'm left with, and I'm here in the hope of a second opinion on how to get Moritz fully water tight.

*Quick bodge, please don't judge

**I'm trying to work out how to upload images as I have few, I'll get them up when I can figure it out - do they need to be hosted somewhere?

Thanks in advance!

David

Cool Doublecab.

What wheels you rolling, 16 or 17’s?

I think you've identified the crumbling old pipe (won't be copper, just an attractively reddish, blossoming rust coloured steel). Now I think your next step is find a new pipe!
I've not got the wbx anymore so am not familiar what pipe it is. I'd say that's your simplest, best and most reliable bet
Looks great btw

Can we have full picture of your engine bay ? 
that picture of the metal pipe makes me think it’s not a early cooling system, yet you list it as a 82 ? 

DoubleOSeven wrote: ↑25 Mar 2021, 20:43 Cool Doublecab.

What wheels you rolling, 16 or 17’s?

I honestly don't know 17"?, they're off a Vito, I know that, banded to 8.5 and 9

slowcoach wrote: ↑25 Mar 2021, 21:23 I think you've identified the crumbling old pipe (won't be copper, just an attractively reddish, blossoming rust coloured steel). Now I think your next step is find a new pipe!
I've not got the wbx anymore so am not familiar what pipe it is. I'd say that's your simplest, best and most reliable bet
Looks great btw

Thanks! We love it, my little boy especially

I'd agree, and you might easily be right, but under that hose and beneath those jubilee clips is what looks exactly like a corroded copper plumbing fitting?

I'm going to take the hose off again tomorrow, see if I can cut away the sharp corroded bit and get a proper seat on the rest of the barb.

You're definitely right on the replacement being needed though, whatever is going on with it it needs binning and replacing so if anyone can point me in the direction of what I'm looking for that would really help!

If it's of any consequence, it was a 1.9df, and it's had a 1.9dg swap at some point, so I'm not sure what bits are df and what are df and what's been Frankensteined together?

Mocki wrote: ↑25 Mar 2021, 21:45 Can we have full picture of your engine bay ? 
that picture of the metal pipe makes me think it’s not a early cooling system, yet you list it as a 82 ? 

Will do

As above, it was a df, now a dg

And curiously, when I was underneath I saw what looked like heat exchanger cables (single cable from front branching to two cables heading rearwards?)

So may have even been an air-cooled at some point? Is that even possible on an 83?

*I will add, I know almost nothing of t25's, this is my first

Let’s be honest here , as all petrol body shells are the same , anything from any could be bolted on or in 

I think you have a later cooling system , which is good, as parts are easier to get ....

Ok, hose off again this morning, it's definitely steel not copper, but has definitely been brazed at some point.

I think I found the source of my leak, there's a pin hole in the brazed section right under the clamp so I cleaned it up best I could and got the hose back on, past the pin hole with a clamp both sides of said hole and it seems to be holding for now though will see what happens when up to temp/pressure.

Obviously in the short term the pipe needs replacing, I suppose my main questions now are what pipe am I looking for? It's the pipe between the water pump and the thermostat housing with a branch connection for the heater matrix hose

And also where exactly am I supposed to route the heater matrix hose? as no matter which way I bend it, the junction with the dodgy pipe points it straight at the drive shaft and my cable tie solution isn't one I want to bet on for long

And here's a shot or two of the engine! To most likely through a bunch of spanners in the works

Brickwerks 
https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/coolant-pi ... nless.html
 

Mocki wrote: ↑26 Mar 2021, 10:43 Brickwerks
https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/coolant-pi ... nless.html

thanks man, i'll add it to my list for my next order as i'm waiting on a few crewcab only bits to come back in stock and i begrudge paying for shipping over and over again.


And if someone could give me an idea of where best to route this hose, that'd be appreciated too 

Try JustKampers.com they are based in Hook.

Sorry for spare parts. Cheaper than Brickwerks and in stock.