Changing Coolant: Any parts that I should get just in case.

[mk28vpb91]

The coolant in my 91 8v doesn't taste right (or at least that's what my Dad said last time I drove up to visit).

I am going to drain and refill the cooling system with the right mixture at some stage during the weekend. Are there any bits and pieces that frequently break when doing this job? Don't want to get caught out late Sunday afternoon as this is the only car in the family.

Experience counts for a lot. I got stuck the other day when adjusting the Fan belt. Haynes didn't say that some of the teeth would fall off the adjustment pinion when adjusting the tension making the job extremely awkward. Next time I will make sure I have a spare one in the garage.

[Gambit]

right what i did was:-

all pipes are held on by them jubilee clips, you just loosen the screw to remove them.

set the heating controls to max heat
remove the expansion cap
removed the bottom rad hose
let it drain out
remove the top rad hose
stick a garden hose in top and flush the rad
removed the two pipes from the oil cooler
flushed this with the garden hose also
reconnet all pipes

top up with 2/3 coolant 1/3 water

with the cap still off

run the engine on idle, until the fan kicks in or the water starts to boil over

turn engine off, top up with water, refit cap tightly

job done

[mk28vpb91]

Thanks, sounds simple enough. I will almost certainly post again if it wasn't.

I think I may have those springy clips on the hoses rather than jubilee clips which I guess needs a vice grip to undo.

[golfvr6]

The hoses will be fitted with spring clips as standard from the factory. These are awkward but can be done with locking grips. You might want to replace them with jubilee clips as they are easier.

[Gambit]

u'll find of the spring clips will snap due to corrosion over the years when you try to take them off

the last one on my oil cooler did

[modulater]

The hoses will be fitted with spring clips as standard from the factory. These are awkward but can be done with locking grips. You might want to replace them with jubilee clips as they are easier.

Well apparantly your not supposed to do this as the hose is made in a different way and with a jubilee clip your putting pressure on a certain spot rather than distributing it around the hose as with a spring clip.

Well I've always replaced them with jubilee ones and never had any problems but thats what a lot of manuals are now quoting.

[golfvr6]

The clips are ok, just take a bit of patience  

[modulater]

Yeah tired and tested way is to use mole grips as once you got it off you can leave it clamped so it doesnt knacker the hose.

[mk28vpb91]

Job done. Spring clips didn't break when I took them off and seemed to be in pretty good nick so I put them back on. Much quicker than Jubilee clips.

After flushing out the system and refitting the hoses I only managed to get around 3.5 litres of coolant back into the engine.

This was after running it until the bottom hose got hot indicating that the thermostat had opened. The return from the heater was also hot, so pretty happy that there are no airlocks in that part of the system.

Haynes says that the cooling system holds 6 litres. Any ideas?

It's pretty cold (and wet, no garage ) out there today so the fan didn't need to kick in. Temp gauge well below half way.

[golfvr6]

Which hoses did you take off?