I've had my 96tdi about 3 months now, so far ive changed the alternator, , rotoflex, engine oil and filters, and been poking around looking for what else may need doing.
Since I got it I noticed when I filled coolant to the exact fill mark, i would check it again a few days later and it would have dropped about 1cm in level, with no issues of coolant bubbling or temp gauge rising, no oil in coolant or coolant in oil, and no white exhaust, so I thought nothing more of it. One day I filled the coolant a few cm above the fill mark, and a short drive later saw it leaking out onto the road, and I finally saw there was a leak in the black coolant tank along its rear seam edge. So it would lose coolant level up to that seam but no more.
So what i've realized is that I have been running around for months with the cooling system unpressurized, and even tho i'd been giving it alot of stick and lots of hilly driving (no towing or lengthly stressful offroading), the coolant and engine never overheated at all or showed any signs of a problem, being full tropical dry season here i'm impressed.
I've just gotten in a spare expansion tank (the light colored type) which I want to swap in tomorrow, but I wanted to ask you guys thoughts were about the unpressurised running thats been going on since ive had it and god knows how long before that. I have read and been told that the cooling systems on these were a bit fragile and near its limit in my climate and that any problem could be fatal to the engine, is there anything I should look out for. And could there be any problem that could arise from having it in a pressurised state after running unpressurized for a time, are the hoses under more stress etc?
Since I got it I noticed when I filled coolant to the exact fill mark, i would check it again a few days later and it would have dropped about 1cm in level, with no issues of coolant bubbling or temp gauge rising, no oil in coolant or coolant in oil, and no white exhaust, so I thought nothing more of it. One day I filled the coolant a few cm above the fill mark, and a short drive later saw it leaking out onto the road, and I finally saw there was a leak in the black coolant tank along its rear seam edge. So it would lose coolant level up to that seam but no more.
So what i've realized is that I have been running around for months with the cooling system unpressurized, and even tho i'd been giving it alot of stick and lots of hilly driving (no towing or lengthly stressful offroading), the coolant and engine never overheated at all or showed any signs of a problem, being full tropical dry season here i'm impressed.
I've just gotten in a spare expansion tank (the light colored type) which I want to swap in tomorrow, but I wanted to ask you guys thoughts were about the unpressurised running thats been going on since ive had it and god knows how long before that. I have read and been told that the cooling systems on these were a bit fragile and near its limit in my climate and that any problem could be fatal to the engine, is there anything I should look out for. And could there be any problem that could arise from having it in a pressurised state after running unpressurized for a time, are the hoses under more stress etc?
