GolfGTIforum.co.uk
General => The garage => Topic started by: phatsam2003 on 26 August 2009, 21:14
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Hey everyone,
I've got a few problems with my 93 obd1 VR6, can someone please help.
I've had it a couple of weeks now, and its been sitting on the driveway, waiting while I sell my GTi.
It's taking for what seems forever to heat up!! After about 10 mins at Idle the oil temp is at 68 and the coolant temp gauge on the dash has barely even moved. Its at this point the reservoir tank starts to overflow. Also if I turn the engine off, then restart, the coolant temp doesn't move back to where it was before I turned it off. Not straight away anyway.
Feeling the coolant pipes, the top rad hose is very hot but the bottom rad hose is only warm.
Its also idling at about 600 rpm after about 5 mins of running.
I have searched on here for a possible solution, and to my horror found this could be a head gasket failure.
Theirs no oil in water, or vice versa that I can see.
I've also changed the reservoir tank cap for a blue one which I got from the scrapie. When the coolant started to overflow, I turned the engine off and unscrewed the reservoir tank cap and there was no pressure change, it just unscrewed with no effort.
Can someone please please help
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Sounds like it would be worth swapping the thermostat housing out for a replacement.
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Was thinking of going that route first.
Also the top rad coolant hose was replaced by the last owner, but he got the wrong one and made an adapter up to make it fit.
Could this also be the problem?
Cheers for the advise
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Are the coolant hoses rock solid after driving a few miles?
If so you have a headgasket leak probably at no.1 cylinder, the gases will be pressurising the water jacket.
A common problem with the early vr6.
The only definite way to diagnose is to get a garage to test the coolant header tank for exhaust gases.
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No the coolant hoses don't go rock solid.
The top rad one gets ruddy hot and the bottom rad one just gets warm, but you can still squeeze them and hear coolant moving.
I'm really hoping this isn't a head gasket :cry:
May have to get it down to the garage for a coolant test
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I would change the thermostat, and get the coolant system check for exhaust gases.
You say the hoses aren't hard, but the coolant starts coming out of the header tank after 10 minutes?
Thats pretty quick. Maybe you have a blocked radiator?
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Either get the coolant checked, or simply a compression check on the cylinders, if the gasket has gone then it will simply blow and the pressure will noticably drop. Normally if you get the thermostat changed by them, they will not charge for a compression check. At least the ones the missus took her car to didn't.
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I would suggest thermostat to start with.
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Could be airlocked
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check the coolant faq that i put together, tells you how to bleed it, how to check the waterpump works etc. by the sounds of it I'd say either an air lock or the waterpump is weak.
its been moved to the MK2 section, it was stickied in the garage section before
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=106380.0
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Cheers for the responses guys. I'm really not happy at the mo, I was so excited when I got this, now it just seems like a huge mistake. :sad:
I've been to the garage and asked some advise. They pretty much said the same thing, start with the thermostat, check for a rad block and check the water pump. Then if it's still doing it get the coolant tested.
He said if it is the head gasket then I'm looking at 700-1000 to get it done, depending on how bad it goes.
Thanks again fellas, I really appreciate the advise.
check the coolant faq that i put together, tells you how to bleed it, how to check the waterpump works etc. by the sounds of it I'd say either an air lock or the waterpump is weak.
its been moved to the MK2 section, it was stickied in the garage section before
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=106380.0
Cheers rubjonny, I'll defo be checking that out :smiley:
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Ok so tried again today, but changed the reservoir cap for the one off of my GTi.
Started her up leaving her to idle, and kept squeezing all the coolant hoses.
The top rad hose gets hotter a lot quicker than the bottom, the bottom one does catch up but it takes about 5 mins longer, and then its not quite as hot.
Also the coolant hoses do get hard, but not rock solid, there is still give when you squeeze them.
So anyway the engine oil gets to about 82 degrees, the fan kicks in and the coolant temp light comes on. The coolant temp gauge never moves past 60 degrees! and the reservoir didn't overflow!!
I switched the engine off at this point as I was a little concerned about overheating.
My thoughts are change the thermostat and housing, coolant temp sensor, use rad flush or take it off and test it and stick new coolant in.
But could it still be the head gasket?
Cheers
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Its normal for the top hose to get hot first, the themostat holds the water in the block till its hot then it goes to the radiator via the top hose and returns via the bottom hose so the bottom hose will be cooler as the water has been cooled in the radiator.
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Change the thermostat anyway, and whilst you are at it whip the hoses off the radiator and then stick a hose pipe in it, will soon find out if it is blocked then.
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Rightio
Today I changed the thermostat, thermostat housing, temp sensor and the reservoir cap. Flushed the radiator through with a hose, and used some system flush.
It's no longer overflowing, but it is overheating.
It's fine when driving, but when stationary the oil temp goes up to mid 90's, the fans kick in and the coolant light starts flashing.
Unfortunately I don't know what the coolant temp is because the gauge doesn't work.
Any ideas?
Cheers :smiley:
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Could be a air lock, as a next step why not get it block tested to confirm head gasket is ok.
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Doesn't make sense as that isn't a dangerous temp to be running at. Where does the water temp gauge on the dash sit? Sounds more like a sensor has broken. Get a compression test done as a precaution but then I would look at a sensor change.
Edit: just re-read it. I would try to get that water gauge working as it could be that, that is throwing a spanner in the works.
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A compression test won't necessarily show the gasket has gone.
On the early vr6 they are known to blow between the cylinder and water jacket at no.1 cylinder.
The leak can be very small, not enough to show on the compression test, but will still pressurise the coolant system.
How do you know its overheating if you can't read the coolant temp?
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You were right on the button Agreeable Slick!!
Changed the clocks for the ones in my GTi this morning and everything worked great!! Coolant temp got to 90 and stayed there! Fans kicked in when they should and the oil temp sat around 90 degrees
I'm so glad this is sorted!! Now all I need is some new VR6 clocks. :smiley:
Cheers for all the help fellas :wink: