Author Topic: Help! Brown Coolant!  (Read 3369 times)

Offline rubjonny

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Re: Help! Brown Coolant!
« Reply #10 on: 05 May 2005, 15:12 »
Another vote to not use radweld, I used it and it fixed my radiator but buggered up my heater matrix!  That wasn't a nice job :cry:

My rad started leaking again after a few months so I still had to change it.  Steer clear!
Hello my name is John and I'm a dub addict.

Offline GTI_16V

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Re: Help! Brown Coolant!
« Reply #11 on: 05 May 2005, 15:22 »
My dad was down today visiting and he knows alot more about engines (especially older ones) than i do.  He said that it looked like the water hadn't been changed for a while and as everything else seemed ok not to worry about it.  Like you guys he said i should change the coolant and that should sort it out.
"Do you love that car more than me?" - (Mrs GTI_16V, 2005)

Offline rubjonny

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Re: Help! Brown Coolant!
« Reply #12 on: 05 May 2005, 15:26 »
Yeah, the way I did it was to remove the hoses from the radiator, block, header tank and heater matrix and shove a hosepipe in there.  Give it a blast one way and then the other untill the water runs clear!  Then fill it back up with G12+ antifreeze from VW and distilled water, mine has been fine since November :)
Hello my name is John and I'm a dub addict.

action al

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Re: Help! Brown Coolant!
« Reply #13 on: 06 May 2005, 11:38 »
It could well be your oil cooler leaking!
If there is a sort of toffee like deposit inside your expansion cap then this is what it is.
If it's just muddy looking water then it's just rusty and neads a good clear out.
If it is your oil cooler then this will need replaced, obviously an oil change should be done at the same time.
Either way your coolant system will need flushed out.
A good way to do this is if there is oily deposits in there is to drain the system, then refill with water mixed with a good degreasant
then run it up to temp, let it cool a bit then drain off. Repeat several times until clear. This will not damage the system.
Once you are happy then refill with antifreeze/coolant with the correct mixture of water.

Oh and NEVER EVER THINK ABOUT USING RADWELD It's evil stuff :evil:
I blame losing one of my engines on that stuff. The head gasket blew and the piston over heated and seized the engine. And when I took the head off, the gasket had blown by some blocked cooling holes in the block, guess what had blocked the cooling holes? That's right it was Radweld.
So don't use it!!! It blocks up where you don't want it to. And you'll find you need to replace a radiator soon after anyway.

Offline Gambit

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Re: Help! Brown Coolant!
« Reply #14 on: 06 May 2005, 12:39 »
fairly liquid is a good degreasent :wink:

Offline Organisys

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Re: Help! Brown Coolant!
« Reply #15 on: 06 May 2005, 12:58 »

Quote

try owning a rover! my ringpeice was in a constant state of flux :shocked:
Quote

Relax, It's a rover! LOL  :wink:

... it's turned into a fashion show for poofters.

Offline AudiA8Quattro

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Re: Help! Brown Coolant!
« Reply #16 on: 06 May 2005, 13:49 »
Nothing wrong with using radweld, just make sure your heater is set to hot, its not hard  :laugh:
FOR DIY GUIDES GO TO <br>www.volkswagenaudi.co.uk<br/>BRAKES, SUSPENSION, CV JOINTS

Offline rubjonny

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Re: Help! Brown Coolant!
« Reply #17 on: 06 May 2005, 13:52 »
Why would that help on a MK2?  Its the MK1 which has the taps to cut off coolant flow to the matrix ;)

I agree with action al, when I took the head off my driver allmost all the coolant channels in the gasket were clogged up with radweld, nasty stuff :(
Hello my name is John and I'm a dub addict.

action al

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Re: Help! Brown Coolant!
« Reply #18 on: 07 May 2005, 08:47 »
Nothing wrong with using radweld, just make sure your heater is set to hot, its not hard  :laugh:

Setting the heater to hot would only direct the air over the matrix.  :rolleyes:
There is a constant flow of water circulating around the mk2 heater matrix!
It's evil stuff I tell you :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Offline Idle Duffer

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Re: Help! Brown Coolant!
« Reply #19 on: 07 May 2005, 09:01 »
You can use radweld but take the thermostat out and have heater on full, if you dont you're asking for trouble.  I used it about 8 months ago to do a temporary (Very) repair on my mates head gasket.  It was filling a cylinder with water!  Put rad weld in and ran engine for 15 mins with the affected cylinders spark plug removed and injector disconnected.  Then re-fitted everything and it ran fine.  Gave him enough time to save for repair bill,  two months later it was still ok!!!