Afternoon all, am hoping for a lil help if possible, am a VW virgin and having some summer problems.......Took Helga down to Exeter last weekend, she was fine all the way down to Bristol where we sat in traffic on M5 for nearly an hour, then flashing red light came on and temp gauge started to rise. I stopped at services to check water level and it was still between min and max so had a cuppa, let her cool down a bit and carried on with journey. Got to Exeter ok temp gauge stayed just to the right of red light, which continued to flash. Saturday morning checked water level in engine bay and expansion tank (topped up expansion tank as it had dropped just below minimum line) went on a little jaunt, about 20miles, down those hairy single lanes with 10foot hedges either side and the red light came on again and temp gauge rose until it couldn't get any further to the right. We pulled over immediately to find the water in expansion tank literally boiling and steam being released via screw lid - aaaggghhhhh
So made another cuppa, waited an hour for everything to cool down and checked levels again - this time expansion tank was empty (no surprise with the amount of steam released) but tank in engine bay was still half full. Topped up expansion tank again and carried on our way - gauge remained mid way between red light (still flashing) and top so kept to 40mph all the way back to campsite. Spoke to helpful? campsite owner who suggested that my head gasket might be on way out as we couldn't see any leaking hoses, and to take it really slowly on way home. Set off Sunday evening with water tanks checked, doing 40mph, got 20 miles down the road when flshing red light was back and temp gauge off the scale again
Stopped at nearest services and called out breakdown service, who arrived and chuckled saying that us VW owners litter the roads in summer with overheating vans, he listened to Helga's engine and said she sounded fine, not like cylinder head was knackered - but he claims that because engines are in the back in hot wather the air doesn't flow into engine bay so it overheats........surely this can't be right? What's the point of owning a camper that you can't use in the summer? Does anyone know what's wrong with my Helga? I don't know any VW specialist mechanics so don't want to risk taking her to anyone until I have a rough idea of what's wrong and what it'll cost........ Thank you Thank you any help gratefully received!
