huffi's slooow rebuild

Huffi said:

So I have fitted another recon head, and shes running fine, but HOT! The temp gaguge stays below cold for the first 10 mins of driving then pops to about 60% then (after any little hill) goes to about 85% on the gauge.

I am going to replace the gauge today and see if that makes a difference - had my rad professionally cleaned also. So just wondering what else could be causing her to be so damn hot all the time?! Lets hope its the gauge!

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some ideas..

• I assume you gave the system a flush out with a hose?
• change the stat. (or remove it completely to test).
• do the viscous fan test
• make sure you don't have air locks, especially around the water pump.
• don't rule out the rad, check that it is hot all over when warmed up.

trax said:

some ideas..

• I assume you gave the system a flush out with a hose?
• change the stat. (or remove it completely to test).
• do the viscous fan test
• make sure you don't have air locks, especially around the water pump.
• don't rule out the rad, check that it is hot all over when warmed up.

Click to expand...

Will do the fan test now. Have also got a new gauge/sensor. And yesterday I jacked the car up and bled her, defiantly a few air bubbles leaving that where not there before, drove about 60k with no overheating, but that was tested with my finger in the coolant as the old gauge was not working after i messed with it i.e it wasn't boiling - but still too hot to keep my finger in there!

Fans fine - but theres newspaper shreds all over the garden.

You could get one that opens at a lower temp but I'd also check the temp sender while you're at it

Huffi said:

Fans fine - but theres newspaper shreds all over the garden.

Click to expand...

:lol:

try driving up the side of a hill or something to get the expansion tank up in the air. Then give all the tubes a good squeeze as if you are pumping the water around manually. then after, when on a flat, check the expansion tank to see if it's got lower and therefore see if you had air in.

Little Update... did the hill trick and also bled the rad again. Seemed to have removed all the air. BUT I just drove home from the pub (5 min drive max) - the last bit of my road is a bit dogey so I put my footdown as theres been a few car jackings recently. I get home and switch the engine off and I can here the bubbling in the expansion tank. I open the cap its not boiling boiling as i can stand to put my finger in it for a tiny dip. The whole engine gurgles and then from being almost over flowing the level drops to almost nothing.

What does that mean? A huge air bubble??? - defiantly getting a taxi to work in the morning until its been checked out. HELP I dont want to crack my new head after just buying it!

is rad hot all over, tdi ? they rarely get trapped air just filling with bung on thermostat housing out is enough

not checked if the rad is hot all over, but I had it serviced/cleaned a week ago and its meant to be fine. Its a 300tdi yeah.

Sorry if im being an idiot but what do you mean by ' just filling with bung on thermostat housing out is enough'

What bung?!!

on top of thermostat housing , is a black plastic bung ,that you remove to fill sytem, rad empties and fills on the same side so just flushing and pressure testing doesnt mean its any good rad needs to get hot all over to cool engine

Oh I know what you mean, I have had that off today while pouring into the expansion tank.

I'll have a good feel of the rad tomorrow then once its been running, I just presumed it was air because of the noise it was making and then the sudden drop from full to almost empty - sounded like someone had taken a big plug out of the bath!

it could be pressurising due to head / gasket issue or leak or failed stat ,pump or rad

Well I had a new head put in last weekend, so new head gasket also. So that cant be the problem.

Leak possibly, and water pump has been checked and apparently is working fine. Bit of a ball ache after the money it cost to have the head replaced still not to be working!

blocks can crack too ,often you can tell by engine locking on first turn of key but not allways ,check rad first then go from there

A cracked engine block does not sound like fun.

Well - I went out in the light this morning to check the coolant level, seemed ok, a little low but nothing drastic, turn the engine on chugged away fine. Removed the water pipe leaving the head - NO WATER!

So I imagine my recently checked water pump has given out? I only drove about 5 miles in it yesterday so I am hoping its not damaged anything. Having a mechanic look at it today. What would you guys be looking for - or just testing the water pump and then go from there?

Huffi said:

Well - I went out in the light this morning to check the coolant level, seemed ok, a little low but nothing drastic, turn the engine on chugged away fine. Removed the water pipe leaving the head - NO WATER!

So I imagine my recently checked water pump has given out? I only drove about 5 miles in it yesterday so I am hoping its not damaged anything. Having a mechanic look at it today. What would you guys be looking for - or just testing the water pump and then go from there?

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if you've put it in, then i'd be looking for the mechanic to fix it ;p

WoooooHooooo shes not overheating anymore *touch wood*.

Water problem was due to me not tightening one of the pipes (woops) but even after that was fixed still over heating. After a lot or trial and error. It turns out that over a certain RPM the fan stops increasing in speed/slows and thus the rad isnt getting cooled. To test the hypothesis we did a bit of welding (presuming that we would need to replace fan anyway). Now she works fine. Drove into the bush and even had her at 140kph (never again!!). No overheating. fingers crossed I have a decent landy now!

Thanks for all the help and suggestions guys.

Good result

Leave the fixed fan in place - then you know its spinning and doing its job. It will make very little difference to any mpg figures and noise wont be an issue in a Landy.

Fantastic thread, Landy looks superb!