Club 80-90 Forums

Hey peeps!
I have been having a look into the water leak I have had on the 1.9 petrol I own....
It wasn't too bad to start with, until my trip back from wales a couple of weeks ago, when I went through 4 litres of water in about 200 miles! I had a look into it once the engine cooled down and it appeared to have stopped. and there appears to be coolant leaking from either the water pump (it is the middle one on the aux belt, yes?) or... the pipe directly in front of it.
I can't quite tell which one it is since I can't see in there or get my hand in properly.

My question is..... is it easy to remove the pump without lifting the engine? I am thinking on changing the seal. Also, how hard is it to get hold of coolant pipes??

Any advice would be awesome!

its a bugger if you can't get to the crank pulley to remove it to allow access to the 10 mm water pump bolts. I had to drop my exhaust (which itself was a bugger due to the welder fixing it)to get the the pulley. When there undo the 4 allen keys remove pulley(with a wiggle here and there ). then your in.

The water pump and pipes were slightly different on the early and late types.

The pulley in the middle is the crank pulley the LHS pulley as you look at the engine is the water pump.

Sounds to me like the pipes behined the crank pulley, Brickwerks do stainless steel replacements.

yes you can do this with the engine in but it's fiddly.

water pumps can leak too , usually just before they fail completely ! So its worth a proper look see to find out what the cause is... is yours an early or late water system ? easy way to tell is if you have a metal thermostat housing to the left of the water pump then its an early one.... be REALLY careful if you do have to take the water pump of , as the thermostat housings are obsolete and rarer than hens teeth.... if you damage the housing whilst splitting from the water pump you are in for a real fight getting a replacement hopefully yours is a later type with the thermostat housing made from plastic and located towards the rear of the engine.

Can you take a pic and post it ??

Martin.

Thanks for the advice so far...
I shall take a photo or two this evening after work. If it's any use, the van is a 1984 1.9 DG....?

It being fiddly is not a problem, I am a helicopter engineer by trade....!

Hi
My water pump has gone too - also an early (1983) 1.9 DG. We hitched a ride courtesy of the RAC on the last leg of our journey home after a fabulous holiday touring Scotland. It was nice timing. We went everywhere we planned, with the slight drip slowly getting worse (with regular top-ups in both tanks plus some K-seal), until it suddenly all went a few miles from our final stop. What we saved in fuel while on our piggy-back ride is about the price of the new water pump !
I have got the thermostat housing off relatively easily, with the application of a little brake fluid and a bit of patience, and I thought from what I read on here, that I was on the home straight. Now I am stuck particularly with the two Allen screws that hold the lower (inlet?) pipe onto the pump, and the screw which is tucked in behind it. It looks as though it would be a lot easier if I took the pulley off the crankshaft. That's not going to upset any timing. Are there any other issues I should be aware of? All I need is a big f**k-off spanner, which I can borrow from a friend.
Any advise would be gratefully received.
Thanks
Miles

yes take the pulley off.... it will make removing the water pump much much easer. No timing issues as it just runs the alternator/water pump belt and has a keyway.. When you say the 2 allen bolts, do you mean the ones on the right of the long pipe that goes into the water pump with the o ring seal ? use a allen key socket , make sure it fits exactly, clean any crud out with a wire brush, put in in the head and give it a clout with a hammer just to make sure its seated fully and to help dislodge crud in the threads, then it should come out ok.

If you have split the thermostat housing from the water pump without to much problem then you have done well

when you replace the pump make sure that you get the right one, they are different late and early, and if your water pump pulley isnt a split type IE in 2 halves then you will probably have to get one of these , they are expensive for what they are are... £ 14 each IIRC . Brickwerks sell good quality stuff.

Thanks Pionte
I managed to get the pump off without removing the pulley. Now I just have to see if I can get the new one (from Brickwerks) on without removing it. Then flush, fill, bleed and pressure test with just water. I had blue anti-freeze - God knows how old - so I would need a very thorough flush if I was to replace with the pink OAT stuff. Perhaps a 130 mile run to somewhere with a hose would be overdoing it. Otherwise I'm going to put the blue anti-freeze in again. I hope I didn't cook the engine but it still seems to start and run OK for the minute or so it took me to get off the back of the truck and into a parking place.

itchyfeet wrote:The water pump and pipes were slightly different on the early and late types.

The pulley in the middle is the crank pulley the LHS pulley as you look at the engine is the water pump.

Sounds to me like the pipes behined the crank pulley, Brickwerks do stainless steel replacements.

yes you can do this with the engine in but it's fiddly.

Fidly is my middle name... I am a helicopter mechanic, imagine some of the jobs I have to do on these things!

(I should probably have thought that first sentence through before I wrote it...!)

Hi
I finally got the new water pump on and the thermostat housing etc. But when I filled with water it came out pretty fast - I think from where the pipe from the rhs water-jacket goes into the thermostat housing. This pipe (early type) runs behind the crank pulley and has the dipstick tube attached to it. When I took it off there was a mess of sealer and a distorted O-ring that came out with it. The flared end of the tube is a bit manky, but I don't think I can get a new one, so I tidied it up a bit, bought a couple of new O-rings, and assembled it with a bit of RTV sealer. I think that is where the water is coming out from. My question is do I have the O-ring in the right place. Should it sit in the groove on the pipe that is formed by the flare at the end, so it is sealing radially against the inside circumference of the hole in the housing, as I have it, or should it be inserted first into the hole, then the pipe pushed in after it so it seals axially against the end-faces. (I'm scratching my head trying to explain this). For the moment I have pushed some more RTV sealant in, but I'm not really expecting that to work.
I'd be grateful for any help if anyone can understand what I'm on about.
Thanks
Miles

Hi Miles

I'm no expert, and I haven't explored any of this in my own van yet, but I wonder if this will help. If I'm looking at the right bit of the diagram it looks like the O ring should go in the hole first, ie your second option.

Did mine the other year, put it back as it came out-around the pipe and it is watertight.
When you pushed the pipe in you may have rolled the ring back slightly.
David

defo goes over the lip on the pipe and sits in the grove... easy enough to whip back out and refit. If it leaks still then a new pipe will be required, resist the urge to pack too much sealant in though, it should be water tight with just the o ring seal....

Can you buy those pipes pionte? I looked recently to try and help someone and couldn't find them anywhere

This is the one.....

http://www.vwheritage.com/vw_spares_Wat ... tartPage=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

found this one on ebay, looks rusty but could be serviceable .

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-T25-CAMPER ... 3f292f0287" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would definitely rub it down and paint it with some decent paint though.

found this site, not sure if they are suggesting that its still for sale or if you have to e-mail them for availability.
http://www.germanqualityrange.com/detai ... 00&id=8301" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Itchyfeet, these parts are becoming rarer then hens teeth !