header tanks

[beechymonza]

just in the middle of puttin new header tank on my gti, is it true you can put washin powder in water system 2 cleann it through, i.e get rid of any sh!t in system,,,,,,,,,,,,,[/img]

[sharpie]

i wouldn't, flush it through with a hose or couple of buckets of water.

[Neo Badness]

I wouldn't put washing up powder in it myself, nor would i recommend it, but if you want to experiment I'd be interested see how you get on...

[DarnPB]

just in the middle of puttin new header tank on my gti, is it true you can put washin powder in water system 2 cleann it through, i.e get rid of any sh!t in system,,,,,,,,,,,,,[/img]

I would not use any kind of domestic cleaning agents as these could react with seals and gaskets. The last thing you want is the head gasket to fail.
As Sharpie said, clean running water in both directions should clean out most of the crap, but you might find a cleaning agent from the motor factors that will do the job. Be sure to replenish your antifreeze afterwards though, as this helps prevent corrosion as well as protect the water from freezing.

[beechymonza]

i seen people on here with the mk3 header tank on a mk2, any reason 4 this, or just looks better

[sharpie]

later caps are meant to be better, early ones are black and newer are blue. if the cap doesn't seal you'll won't have sealed the coolant system and end up with some nice bubbling action going on

[beechymonza]

i got 1 with black cap, just gotta make it fit now

[rubjonny]

its not necessary if its just dirty, good  blast through with a hosepipe to blow all the crud out is enough.  If the coolant system is contaminated with oil then biological washing powder works wonders, running the engine for a few minutes with the stuff in isnt going to hurt anything.  when i do it i let it cool after then flush it thru with a hosepipe, fill it with plain water and run for 5 mins, then stop allow to cool and flush it again, that'll ensure all the bio powder is gone.

ran car for several months after i'd done the above, no issues. took head off and gasket showed no signs of problems, and 2 years later I'[m still using mostly the same set of hoses, rad and matrix

[beechymonza]

the reason i asked is, i changed oil cooler an must of got some oil in water pipes, water feels greasy at top of water cap in header tank, thougt washin powder would clear it

[rubjonny]

yep had exactly the same issue on mine, oil cooler sploderised and amde my coolant turn into chocolate milkshake, mmm yummy.  bio powder did the trick!