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Radiator - which pipe is the return? update
Posted: 20 Sep 2006, 19:51
by Sir Chad
I'm doing a GTi conversion and trying to sort out which pipe is the radiator return pipe and which is the feed.
I thought I could just pour some water in the vent hole and see which one it came out of in the engine bay (to identify the feed pipe) but it comes out of both
I've got the front of the bus hard up against house so access to the radiator for a proper look is really difficult.
Can anyone shed any light?
Thanks
Chad
Posted: 21 Sep 2006, 09:44
by klatuu
Chad,
I spent hours looking for some documentation on this, I think it shows you in the haynes, but it defo shows you in the Bentley manual.
The return from the radiator is the bottom hose with the 90 degreee bend in.
The feed to the radiator is the one that is slightly higher up.
Hope this helps.
I'll see if I can post a picture up to help you, I have a scan of a page.
J.
Radiator return pipe / GTi plumbing
Posted: 14 Oct 2006, 19:48
by Sir Chad
Thanks Klatuu, For anyone who's interested here's my attempt at plumbing in my GTi conversion:

(N.B.The expansion bottle isn't shown in this photo) on my bus, of the two large pipes going thru the bulk head, the one the right (offside) is the feed to the radiator and is connected to the top of the block. I used one of my old WBX pipes with the small pipes T'd into it, which I'm using as the return feed from the Golf expansion bottle. I fabricated a 3/4" to 1/2" T which is inline with the heater hose and this feed the expansion bottle.
I'll post again in a month or so to say if any of this actually works.
Chad
Posted: 15 Feb 2007, 01:09
by slam_dunk
My diesel T25 has hot coolant from head going in to bottom of Rad and return coming from top. I thought this was strange, as most cars I've seen would feed hot in at top so that as it cools, it sinks, but apparently this is how the rad is designed. Not sure if this is relevant, but I got some manuals to confirm this and it still seems wierd to me...