Coolent system upgrade questions

[calimus at techography.net (calimus)]

Ok, I wasn't able to get back to my pc last night so now that I've caught up
on everything here we go.

Patrick, what you've said is very accurate.  The T-stat that "was" in the
car was about 2 maybe 3 years old, I can't remember exactly when I replaced
it last.  The one in it now is a 160f t-stat.  The water pump was replace
last July 4th.  And the radiator was replaced about 6 weeks ago.  As of
yesterday, Here is what I did.

Drained the system and shoved a water hose in the expansion tanke and let it
run water through the system with the radiator hoses discconected and the
heater valve open.  After about 15min of that, I started the car and let it
run for about 3min just to help pull some water through a bit and make sure
the pump was well washed out.  I then proceeded to hose out the radiator.

After all that, I put in about 3/4 of a container of the "pink" stuff.
Thought it was orange, turned out it's pink.  After that, I used water to
top off the rest of the system.  I ran the car for a quick spurt and let it
cool off.  Got a nice burp and then refilled with a mix of 90% water 10%
pink stuff.  Took the car for another run and while temps were down, they
were still a bit higher then usual.  I'm guessing I still have more air in
the system.  The trick is, the water temp guage is reading up to the 3/4
line while my oil temp only gets as high as 110c.  This all started a year
ago and I've been chasing the problem every since. Before then, the water
temp would only reach about a hair passed half way when I was doing triple
digits for more then a mile in the middle of summer.  Heat currently from
the vents stays constant.

I'm starting to suspect something in the wiring now as I've also replace the
water temp sender.  I don't have any oil in the water, or water in the oil.
I don't loose any water after weeks of driving.  I haven't ruled out a
blockage in the head somewhere though, but it will have to wait a while
before I pull that and replace the head.  I'm going to make a few more short
drives with it today and see if maybe I can burp it some more, but I think
the rocco is about to get downgraded from DD to tinker toy.

Thanks to all that have replied, sorry so long.

William
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ATS - Patrick Bureau" <ats@longcoeur.com>
To: "'calimus'" <calimus@techography.net>; "'Scirocco-l'"
<scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2004 9:04 AM
Subject: RE: Coolent system upgrade questions


> Well you can flush the system with water then run the "orange" stuff, but
I
> don't see why you will get better temperature from a system designed for
the
> green stuff, that worked for years, and now overheats.
>
> Your question is, "Why is my system overheating".
> The type of "coolant" you are using is irrelevant to the issue at hand.
>
> I have read all the replies to the original message, and I think Allyn has
> good points, check the Thermostat (you know, boil some water in a dish on
> the stove and dip on a string the thermostat to see if it opens/closes),
> Flush radiator (though I recall you mentioning it is new), Flush the
engine
> is another good one.
>
> I would do a trial run after replacing your thermostat, by simply using
> straight water with water wetter or 20% mix and see if the car overheats
> again:
>
> If it does not, you now know you solved your problem (water is cheap, that
> orange stuff is not especially for a test!)
>
> If it does, then you know it is something else than your thermostat;
>
> 1. Could be corroded passages that are partially blocked in the
engine/head
> preventing proper flow, (I have experienced this on the metallic return
> tube, corrosion settles nicely in it because of the low speed flow and
> diameter of the tube (it's the one running from the water bottle to the
> water pump!)
>
> 2. Could also be a tired water pump that is just not out-putting the
proper
> amount of pressure and the system is flowing too slowly
>
> 3. Also test this with the interior Heat on (additional circulation) if
the
> temperature drops once you open the heat to on, then you have a
circulation
> issue.(head by-passes through the interior heater to the return line),
which
> could point to a clogged flange or oil-cooler exchanger issue.
>
> Cheers, and keeping an open mind in troubleshooting is as much important
as
> understanding how the "circuit" of the system you are troubleshooting .
>
> --------------------------------------
> ATS - Patrick Bureau - Canuck in Texas
> ATS A1 Parts on ebay - http://tinyurl.com/22e5b
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org
> [mailto:scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org] On Behalf Of calimus
> Sent: Saturday, June 19, 2004 1:47 PM
> To: Scirocco-l
> Subject: Coolent system upgrade questions
>
> Ok, so temps in the rocco still arn't what they used to be so it's time ot
> take things a step further.
>
> What I picked up
> 160F t-stat
> 2gal of VW "Orange" coolent  (dats some exspensive shit)
> 16v passat dual radiator fan + new belt
>
> SO I'm sure you see where this is going.  Things I'm unsure of: How the
hell
> to mount the dual fan system to a scirocco 16v w/AC radiator.  It
certainly
> doesn't line up with anything and I knew it wouldn't.  But al also know
that
> some of you folks run this system and have solutions.  Now I'd like to
have
> a good solution, I already tossed out the zip tie idea as I'm shooting for
a
> much cleaner look.  So anything not involving zip ties is more then
welcome.
>
> Now, I'd also like some validation for why I bought the orange coolent.
> I've had a few different folks tell me it's what I should use, though non
> were technical enough to give me good reasons other then "it's whats in my
> jetta/passat/golf".  So is there anything different between the orange
stuff
> and your average everyday prestone coolent?
>
> Ok, while I await all the answers, I'm gonna go drain my damn coolent
system
> for the 3rd time this year in hopes of cooling this thing off since I'm
> pretty sure it's the t-stat now.  But I'm always looking for ways to make
> her run cooler.
>
> William Snyder
>
> 88' Scirocco 16v
> 89' Cabriolet 8v
> 71' Karmann Ghia
>
>
>
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