Look for a odd coolant leak !

[MAXIME]

Hi Guys,

I’m a french guy, so would you excuse me for my language n vocabulary fault, :dry: , when i will trying to explain you my issue.

My car is a VW Golf 1997 1.9 TDI with 1Z motorisation 90ph

And as like the title of the topic tell you, i’m looking for a coolant leak.

Let me explain what happen :

The issue start by a red light blinking on my dashboard couple weeks ago, after a trip of 600 miles (1500km), so i thought its due to the season and its high temperature (summer) and the long trip.
So i add some coolant in the expansion tank, and i think it s OK.

Some day after i ve the problem again and again, so i keep an eye on the expansion tank, and i notice that :

Sometime, when i going to take my car to go to work for example, i fill the expansion tank in the morning.

When i take my car to go back to my home, i check the tank again, it seems to be OK, filled to the right level, i start the car and go away, after just an half mile, my warning indicator blink start blinking.

This situation going worst to worst, day after day, now, i have to fill it on the morning and check it in the evening when i go back to my home after work and by the way fill it again.

I have to mention this, i thought i found the leak once so i changed the hose who linked the tank an the rest of coolant circuit.

After that i ve got the same issue so i changed the tank without its cap, same issue !

After that i decided to change the cap because i thought the circuit got to much pressure who could not be released by cap issue, cap spring or cap system fault.

So i hope, my explanation is not so misunderstandable and my english writing is acceptable…

Thanks for the help and your write back in advance 🙂

JM

Topic

[MAXIME]

Hi guy, i have some results… 🙂

After bleeding my coolant system and refill it, i ve got a new behavior now when i stop the engine, the coolant does not disapear, it s a good news but, now i going to top up with some coolant to stabilize the level…

The 1st of my test was to run my engine in slow rev with my expansion tank open, close it after some minutes and after that do some test with my cap close.

I have to re-do some test in high rev to see what happen.

Even if my issue does not fully resolved yet … Thanks a lot for all of your replies.

Thanks ETCG for all your videos n topic banana:

Keep in touch

[Erin]

Et maintenant, l’antifreeze n’est pas perdue, c’est bon bien sur.
Y’a-t-il des autres problemes avec la moteur? N’oubliez pas pendant que le moteur refroidi, le niveau d’antifreeze peut changer un petit peu. Pas beaucoup mais un peu. Aussi, quand on “bleeds” le radiateur, mets le climatization sur “chaud” et le fan maximum. Parfois des gens oublient des mesures necessaire. Mais vous, vous ne les avez pas oublie, non?

So the antifreeze is not dropping which is good.
Are there other problems with the motor? Do not forget that when the engine is cooling, the coolant level can change a bit. Not a lot but some. Do not forget also to set the climate control to heat and the fan on max setting. Sometimes people forget that. But you, you didn’t forget that did you?

Ehh so my french is not as good as your English.

On a different note – Where could i find diagrams in French with car parts? Though I study French and sometimes work on cars, I do not know the names of parts in French and would enjoy learning.

[MAXIME]

Ohhh your french isn’t bad at all, you ve made some mistake but i known french is a difficult language.

Franch > Antifreeze is Liquide de Refroidissement

You re right, i forgot this point so i m going to level up with my engine running and do it this time.

My engine ve got some another issue but i m going to resolve it time after, after time.
But for me the most important thing is :
-have no coolant system issue
-have no oil systeme issue
After that i m going to fix all point need to fix

I hope i m going to reach that goal.

If you need to find diagram & scheme in french, you should buy on this site :

http://www.revue-technique-auto.fr/

It’s a french site where you can buy technical book on cars. I dont know the term in english.

technical book on cars => revue technique auto, “auto” it’s the nickname or diminutive of “automobile” => car in french.

I hope you’ve got some answers in my reply.

When this topic will be closed i m gonna open a new one on my clutch system, it’s an hydraulic one who my pedal fall deep on the floor.

[EricTheCarGuy]

It did sound like air in the cooling system. I’m glad you were able to get that sorted out. Keep us posted if other issues pop up.

[LJB]

It is very common to see VW engines with water pump problems. The plastic vanes of the water pump become loose or destroyed causing very poor or non-existent coolant flow.
Do a web search, you will see what I mean.

[MAXIME]

Oh my … ! I ‘ve got the same issue coming out the box …

So my coolant was stayed in the expansion tank, keep good temp value, until I decided to do very high rev test on the highway, so i push the engine very close of the red zone on every gear, to do a real good test …

The result is : :woohoo: :huh: noo!!!

> The first part of my run was good, the coolant temp stayed in a good value, 90°C, so i push the engine more
> About 2/3 min after the run began, the coolant temperature is touch the 110°C (very close of the max) and the coolant flow away again … Dashboard alarm start bliking :pinch:

So i ve got just 1/2 min to park again in my friend’s home.

I talk about that on the phone with a guy who know mecanic stuff, and he tell me : “it’s my head gasket !”

His explanation was because of a lil crack in the head gasket, the combustion chamber bleed some air pressure (high rev only), that pressure added to my coolant system who cause the symptom : Coolant spread off the expansion tank !

It s seem to me it s good explanation … by the way i watch the ETCG videos who talk about overheating problem, i think ETCG reach the same conclusion, isnt it ?

Tell me if all of you agree with me ?

@ETCG > where i can buy the tester kit who tell you if there any combustion gas in the coolant system ? What his name ?

@LJB > I think my water pump is OK because the coolant come up to her or the lower part of the cooling system , and come back in my expansion tank,I see it in the expansion tank, it s seem to be good, but i stil do the web search to see.

@Everyone : Thanks in advance 4 all

[Erin]

Head gasket sounds like a possibility. You will need to test further.
Bad head gaskets can cause antifreeze loss which you cannot see.

The two difficult things about changing the head gasket on your engine are –
Installing the timing belt correctly (Not extremely difficult on your engine but you must set the timing correctly).
Lifting the head off the engine (it is a little heavy, you should have someone help you)

If you do this job yourself instead of having a mechanic do it, make sure and install a new timing belt JUST to be safe. That is unless the belt is real new (like less than a year)

Also, do not re-use any gaskets. Since everything will be disassembled, it is best to install new gaskets.

Hopefully Eric will have something to say about testing for a bad head gasket in your case, I would like to learn also.

[MAXIME]

Hi guys, I’m Back !

After long time of abscence, after week end and week end doing mecanic stuff, here we are, I have finally opened my engine.

I m going to post all of the pics I took of the result.

I need your experience to diagnose my head gasket to see what happened, i did not see the path who take the air to go away in my coolant system.

Let me know, if you see something wrong, something strange on the pics.

Thanks in advance

John

[MAXIME]

There is a pic of something odd, i found after lift up my cylinder head.

Attachments:

• 20141025_173014.jpg

[MAXIME]

Pic of my engine bloc, i think everything is good except on 4th cylinder… something wrong ? or need just a little cleaning ?

Pics… Left >>> Right

Left :
[url=http://www.imageupload.co.uk/5ZBm]

Central view :
[url=http://www.imageupload.co.uk/5ZBF]

Last (Right ) :
[url=http://www.imageupload.co.uk/5ZBf]

[MAXIME]

My head gasket :

[url=http://www.imageupload.co.uk/5ZBh]

[Erin]

Well, since it is off, you should install a brand new head gasket. Never use an old one again.
It is hard to tell for sure from the photos but it looks like it may have had some leaks. It does not look good.

Yes, clean the cylinders, the head, and the engine block where the gasket goes.

Make sure and properly torque the bolts when assembling it back together.

[MAXIME]

There is some pictures of my head cylinder clean.

How do think about it, is that clean enough to install a new gasket ?

[url=http://www.imageupload.co.uk/5BbK]

[MAXIME]

Little more close, Head by head

1)
[url=http://www.imageupload.co.uk/5BXI]

2)
[url=http://www.imageupload.co.uk/5BXX]

3)
[url=http://www.imageupload.co.uk/5BXb]

4)
[url=http://www.imageupload.co.uk/5BXo]

[Author]

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