New engine on my T25.......

[Jutstar]

I wonder if anyone cant point me in the right direction.....i have recently (6weeks ago)bought a VW T25, seemed nice and needed a bit of work to the body.

However......i ve hot some overheating problems, in so much as if i star it up and leave it to run its fine, but if i take it out the temperature guage goes mad, then it will overheat resulting in coolant spitting out of the expansion tank, this resulted in a nasty injury to my arm.......

Just taken it to my local VW repairer and after a stack of tests they reckon that i probably have a cracked head, which would need a engine rebuild. They suggested that it would be more economical to have a recon engine put in, but this would cost at least £1500.00

I wonder if anyone had had the same problem with theirs and if the diagnosis is correct and if the prices are about right.

Thanks

[guz]

cracked head ? replace head ?
or is that too obvious ?

[Mr Bean]

Just taken it to my local VW repairer and after a stack of tests they reckon that i probably have a cracked head, which would need a engine rebuild.  They suggested that it would be more economical to have a recon engine put in, but this would cost at least £1500.00I wonder if anyone had had the same problem with theirs and if the diagnosis is correct and if the prices are about right.Thanks

Well I bought my WBX knowing it had a problem same as yours allthough it took about 50 miles to happen. The seller had got a couple of refurbished heads but couldn't be asked to fit them and sold the van to me. The story is that they crack between the valves and this is true. However the Bentley manual states that a crack between the valves of up to 0.5mm is permissable. This is what mine had when removed. I fitted the new good heads and the water loss and boiling continued. It is interesting to note that I often get bubbles in the water which you might thought indicated a leak of combustion gasses into the water sytem. However I have lost no water in my last two trips to the other side of France. In the end I discovered that a very slow leak in the plastic pressure cap was allowing the water to boil off over time. I fitted my heads without removing the engine and did the lower seals by puting the piston at TDC and not letting the rings pop out. The "O" rings can stretch over the barrels. You need to eliminate a lot more minor problems before you let the "Proffesionals" get their hands on it. Other will no doubt give the same kind of advice.CheersSmiffy

[ghost123uk]

Well Jutstar firstly "HI"

Secondly I wonder what type of VW dealer it was, do they know about our old WBX engines ?

I would get a second opinion first as the symptoms could be an airlock (these engines/vans are prone to them).

It could be a cracked head, there are tests for this, such as a CO2 "sniffer" that tests the air in the water bottle for combustion gasses ( maybe the VW dealer you took it to did do that ? ) or simply looking for smoky bubbles in the left hand plastic water bottle. If it is a cracked head, they can be got and fitted for sensible money, as long as the head/liner bolts don't break when you come to undo them (another common trait on these engines). Did the VW dealer give you the results of a compression test ?

Where in the world are you ?

Tell us and someone will come along shortly and recommend a T25 friendly place near you to get that second opinion.

p.s. a re-con can be got for around £1000 from Elite engines ( http://www.elitevw.co.uk/ )and their reputation seems quite good. I think if you get your van to them, they will fit it free too (keeps warranty claims down !!)

p.p.s - It is highly likely I will have be a customer of theirs in the very near future - long story, but suffice it to say beware of so called "good" used engines off eBay

[Jutstar]

Hi Ghost,

many, many thanks for your informative reply.

Have just spoken to the guy, he said that "he hasn t done any of those tests because he feels that this money would be more of a expense which would be better put towards a new engine".

However, he did mention that another problem we had with it was that the water pump is leaking. I am not no expert but i think that the water problem may be the root of our problem.

Anyway i am already £210 worse off and no further forward.

I think my next course of action would be a second opinion from a kind a freindly T25 expert. I am in the Glos area.

Any more advice would be very gratefuly received.

with

Well Jutstar firstly "HI"

Secondly I wonder what type of VW dealer it was, do they know about our old WBX engines ?

I would get a second opinion first as the symptoms could be an airlock (these engines/vans are prone to them).

It could be a cracked head, there are tests for this, such as a CO2 "sniffer" that tests the air in the water bottle for combustion gasses ( maybe the VW dealer you took it to did do that ? ) or simply looking for smoky bubbles in the left hand plastic water bottle. If it is a cracked head, they can be got and fitted for sensible money, as long as the head/liner bolts don't break when you come to undo them (another common trait on these engines). Did the VW dealer give you the results of a compression test ?

Where in the world are you ?

Tell us and someone will come along shortly and recommend a T25 friendly place near you to get that second opinion.

p.s. a re-con can be got for around £1000 from Elite engines ( http://www.elitevw.co.uk/ )and their reputation seems quite good. I think if you get your van to them, they will fit it free too (keeps warranty claims down !!)

p.p.s - It is highly likely I will have be a customer of theirs in the very near future - long story, but suffice it to say beware of so called "good" used engines off eBay

[ghost123uk]

Anyway i am already £210 worse off and no further forward.

We don't seem to have a "Sick" emoticon on here
Could do with one here !!

Most of our "friendly" independent WBX experts would do those tests foc with a view to getting the job of fixing it. They are a friendly bunch I have found

If the pump is leaking water out, then air must be going in to replace it. Our WBX engines a prone to airlocks and airlocks can be very bad for them too. You do need to get it fixed before you drive it any more my friend.

So if the pump IS leaking, change that, (not too hard at all) - bleed the system carefully (information about that in the "wiki" link at the top of this page iirc)

Then see what happens.

Don't forget, these motors need a special anti-corrosion antifreeze (usually known as VW G12) there is stuff in the wiki about that too.

I think my next course of action would be a second opinion from a kind a freindly T25 expert. I am in the Glos area.

Any more advice would be very gratefuly received.

So who do we trust in Gloucestershire folks ?

Oh, and I think you will be glad you found us

[R0B]

[IMG:65:50]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/ ... puking.gif[/img]
[IMG:20:25]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/ ... ing_up.gif[/img]

We don't seem to have a "Sick" emoticon on here

[ghost123uk]

That's cheating Rob !!

Now go and put them up on OUR collection

[R0B]

nooo.there mine all mine..wahhahaha..