Club 80-90 Forums

I'm new to this forum so hi everybody. I'm hoping that you may be able to help me. I drive a T3 with 1.9 TDi AFN engine fitted. This is quite long post but please bare with me as any help would be much appreciated.

Friday morning on the way to work the van overheated, this I managed to resolve as a pipe had come away draining some of coolant, and the temp gauge rose to the top of the scale. It got home OK then I looked into bleeding the coolant system, this is where I'm banging my head against a wall.

I went to bleed to radiator yesterday, warmed the engine up and the temp gauge went 3/4 of the way up the gauge an loosened the bolt in the rad, well took it all the out as it goes whilst the engine was still running, but none of the water filtered through and a minimal amount of air came out.

So I continued running up the engine auge go up the 3/4 mark and removing the bleed screw and there is still no water getting to the rad, the rad is bone dry and doesn't even get slightly warm. The ppies in the engine bay are hot, but the rad remains cold. I've also checked t osee iof the fan works by shorting the wires together, that works fine, but don't recall this ever coming on since I've had the van.

Is this looking like it is going to be the Thermostat that has gone? would this cause the rad to stay cold as the water isn't getting released?

Does anybody know where the Stat is located on a 1.9 TDi engine?

This may be a daft question, but I obviously know where the header tank is but can't seem to find the expansion tank, should it definitely have one fitted?

Many thanks

You need to rev the engine around 2-3000 rpm to bleed the radiator.

Ensure the coolant level is topped up to the brim by the tank that is only accessible when taking the engine lid off.

Thermostat is possibly below the alternator ( im not familiar with tdi's) under a black plastic housing. Are these pipes hot?

Ringo

Thanks for the guidance Ringo, much appreciated. I was revving the engine when bleeding the rad and even took it for a drive with the bleed screw out and still no coolant comes through!!! Is this sounding like the stat?

sounds like stat failed shut indeed, at bottom of water pump behind the hose take off, access is pooh

I had another tinker last night and tried a slightly different approach just to make sure it can't be bled. To avoid peeing off the neightbours by sitting revving my engine at 2000 - 3000 revs on the drive, I took it out for a spin to warm it armed with a 13 mil spanner for the bleed screw.

The temp gauge went up to 3/4 so I removed the bleed screw and revved the engine holding it about 2500 revs and some water started to come out, but the water coming out is cold, does that sound right. Do I need to keep repeating this until warm water comes out?

As some water came out can I presume the stat should be OK? When bleeding do I need to remove the screw completely or just loosen it?

Stick garage airline with rag around it, give it a quick blast with bleed screw out. top up and put screw in with water coming out. 2 person operation. Dont over pressurise.
Pete.

syncropete wrote:Stick garage airline with rag around it, give it a quick blast with bleed screw out. top up and put screw in with water coming out. 2 person operation. Dont over pressurise.
Pete.

I presume you mean put the air line in the header tank then give it a blast to get the water to come out of the bleed screw hole. Is this also to be done with the enigne running and warmed up?

One other thing that concerns me is I can't seem to find an expansion tank. The header tank is there in the engine bay, but I can find an expansion tank anywhere, should there always be one fitted?

There should be a overflow tank behind the number plate flap.The expansion has a cap with a valve that allows the pressurised coolent into the overflow tank & back.It could be you have a faulty cap as to cause lack of coolent pressure.Repacement i advice VW or JSK or simon at brickwerks garage.GSF replacement caps are cr"p i find as faulty.I am not familer with a TDI but have some knowledge of TD 1.6 /1.6n 1Y 1.9 engines coolent bleeding.You can check the thermast by immersing it in hot water with a thermometer at the stats open temp 87c.Alternative is to buy a new thermostat after you fitted the stat and have checked the expansion tank cap valve is working advice a new one fill up with coolent. Make sure your heater is open for hot Run the engine & top up with coolent & take it for a short drive check if it needs a top up with coolent.Once the coolent system starts to get hot it will be under pressure you can undo the bleed screw on the rad untill a trickle of water will start to come and bleed the system.

It should bleed hot or cold with the engine at about 2000rpm and the expansion cap fitted. No lifting one end of the van and all those long stories.
If not you need to start investigating.
Russel