Hey guys, been a long time since I've been on here! Haven't bothered with forums since I sold my old Mk3 Golf as I went onto a Leon Cupra and then a BMW 330ci, but I've just bought myself a Mk4 GT TDI as I needed a cheap diesel run about and I have a coolant problem that has me stumped.
The car is a 2000 GT TDI PD115 with 162k on the clock. The problems started last week, I noticed that I was having to top up my coolant every morning so figured I had a leak somewhere. Traced this back to the radiator - bottom drivers side corner - common problem, so I removed the radiator, flushed the system through with a hose, and fitted a new radiator. After refitting I noticed the fans not working, bridged the connections to the fan temp switch and the small fan worked, plugged in a spare large fan and that worked, so obviously I knew the large fan and temp switch were faulty. Replaced both these parts and refilled with coolant. I let it warm up until the fans came on and then topped up the coolant to the maximum mark, went for a drive and all seemed fine. Came back home and checked coolant and it was still at the maximum mark so thought everything was good. Gave the car a clean and in this time the car cooled down so popped the bonnet to recheck coolant and it had risen by about an inch and a half!
I'm thinking I still have a problem as surely the coolant shouldn't rise when the engine cools down? I started the car up again and the coolant slowly went back down to the maximum mark again so I've no idea what's going on.
Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance
