richandhazel's Golf VR6

[AudiA8Quattro]

Nice one Rich.
I thought you might get away with just tilting the engine, stuff the official workshop method 
The coolant system looks 
I will have to come over soon and check the motor out 

[Wayne]

Water pump now removed, don't think this was doing much



My confidence in the head being OK is deteriorating fast

Also, where have the vanes gone

  I wonder where the vanes are.

[richandhazel]

Yes, that is my concern

That is why I went to quite an effort to flush the system through. A lot of rubbish did come out and may also have come out when I drained it from the bottom rad hose....but didn't pay attention to what came out at the time so can't say

If I don't have to take the head of this I will consider myself very lucky, will keep you updated

[Wayne]

Unless they have rusted away over time.

[richandhazel]

It was the original pump and although it doesn't look it from the pictures, they are in fact plastic!

I didn't realise until, out of curiosity, tried to pry the impeller off of the shaft and it broke away. The replacement on order has a metal impeller which seems to be recommended everywhere that I have read. 

[SoundillusioN]

Wasn't expecting them to be made of plastic... In your case I see that as a good thing.... Less chance of damage you would hope....

Looking at the colour of the internals it looks like that motor really hasn't seen much in the way of antifreeze/coolant in it's life.... Wonder what the the condition of the rad is like?

Anyway, keep at it... 

[Diamond Hell]

Shame Wayne hasn't bothered reading the thread, or he'd know what had caused the vanes to shear off. 

I think that motor's probably seen a fair bit of G12 in its life, the problem is that coolant has a far greater 'searching' capacity than water-alone.  This means the slightest leak is emphasised until the coolant is diluted down to pretty much just water, then it just leaks a bit.

The plastic vanes problem is well documented and that the termination occurred during a freeze may well be the saving grace of the engine.... unless it's been repeatedly cooked post-freeze.

Good luck with it, I'm sure there are plenty of super-tankers needing bringing into port in Yateley. 

[Wayne]

Shame Wayne hasn't bothered reading the thread, or he'd know what had caused the vanes to shear off. 

Go on then tell me, I have read the thread twice, I know it seized and that is what caused the belt to break, if so how does a plastic water pump seize, I mean it is not like it can rust solid is it.

[JC]

Woh! That's not good..... My thoughts exactly.. Where the feck have they gone!.....  Don't want to worry you too much but I have experienced this once and found out the hard way...  I had a very clean running sierra sapphire once, from nowhere the head started making a racket.  Really bad tappet noises, took the cam cover off to find lots of tiny metal shards.  Took the water pump and oil pump out and found what you see now.... My oil pump is what cooked mine I think.  Fingers crossed no damage is done.  Im guessing you didn't spot any metal when you drained the system but that could have gone some time ago now depending in what the previous owner had done with it.

Good luck mate.

As far as I know the oil pump is OK so that side of things should be fine.
I suspect that the major part of the damage to the water pump was done when the previous owner tried to start the car whilst the pump was frozen. That is why the serpentine belt snapped, the water pump didn't turn. He thought he had drained the whole system down but, as I soon discovered, there was still a fair amount trapped in the engine by the thermostat so only a partial drain down was accomplished. It may well be that when I drained the rest of the system down the bits popped out then but I wasn't looking for it and didn't notice.

 

[richandhazel]

The plastic vanes problem is well documented and that the termination occurred during a freeze may well be the saving grace of the engine.... unless it's been repeatedly cooked post-freeze.

Good luck with it, I'm sure there are plenty of super-tankers needing bringing into port in Yateley. 

Agreed, the pump being frozen may have saved it, at least that is what I am hoping.
Post belt snapping and pump freeze I have been with the car and the only time we ran it, without a belt I might add, was to reverse it out of one drive and drive into mine at the other end. So the engine wasn't running long enough to get warm and the coolant and pump bits (assuming the freeze damaged it) wouldn't have circulated.

What I can't vouch for or know is the extent of the damage done prior to this. It's obvious from the brown staining below the reservoir and the state of the housings that there has been an ongoing issue with the cooling system. Lets hope I've got hold of it in time and that we'll be running soon

As for super-tankers, yes I know what you mean! I'm under no illusions about the fuel running costs of these beasts. I would have liked to have filled it up before Tuesday. The car will cover a similar mileage to the Polo so it will only be covering 1 to 2K a year. The MkIV is the main commuter and workhorse. This will just do local mileage and have the odd long run to work every now and then.......when I fancy a play