Need some advice- coolant hose came off & 1.6 got really hot
Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 12:13 pm
Need some advice guys, I sold my 1985 VW golf that is also listed in the FS thread to a super nice couple thats also a forum member who lives 3 hours east of me. The car was my daily driver of 110 miles a day up until the water pump started makeing noise in 2008. I have driven it every month since and it fired right up and other than a musty smell from sitting ran exactly as it always had so I guarenteed it would make it without a problem
So, before they arrived I ran it into my fathers shop and gave it the twice over. checked everything includeing a good stream of coolant return in the pressure tank and no pressure in the tank when running so good to go.
It was a nasty moonless rainy night and they were headed over the cascades 6% grade... only about 15 miles into the trip the engine locked up- the lower U shaped rad hose that goes to the water pump poped off- there was no way to know the car lost its coolant in the dark rainy night (see failures below). It was so hot it was burning oil off the valve cover, it died on narrow sholderless section of a busy highway and there night turned much much worse...I got to the car about 15 minutes later and it was still super hot but the car had to be moved so I tried to start it, it turned over really easy almost like someone took out the glow plugs- After 20 seconds of cranking it fired rough and then smoothed right out and ran ok. I moved it up to a side road. I refuneded them there money as that was the right thing to do.
Why the hose poped off I dont know, maybe due to the radiator fan not working? I used a old stock spring clamp on the hose years back.
He had no idea it was running hot as:
1. Coolant temp guage wasnt workeing- and still doesnt-
2. No low coolant warning LED blinked- still not working
3. Radiator fan never came on- still doesnt work- must be connected to the same sensor as the dash guage
A few questions:
1. Is the lower end ok? Blowby is the same.
2. Why was the car compressionless when it was hot but normal after it cooled?
3. What normaly causes shutdown of car when it gets ultra hot? Pistions expanding or do the injectors stop firing as they expand internally?
Here is a video of how it runs now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw3RVFgjHKw
So, before they arrived I ran it into my fathers shop and gave it the twice over. checked everything includeing a good stream of coolant return in the pressure tank and no pressure in the tank when running so good to go.
It was a nasty moonless rainy night and they were headed over the cascades 6% grade... only about 15 miles into the trip the engine locked up- the lower U shaped rad hose that goes to the water pump poped off- there was no way to know the car lost its coolant in the dark rainy night (see failures below). It was so hot it was burning oil off the valve cover, it died on narrow sholderless section of a busy highway and there night turned much much worse...I got to the car about 15 minutes later and it was still super hot but the car had to be moved so I tried to start it, it turned over really easy almost like someone took out the glow plugs- After 20 seconds of cranking it fired rough and then smoothed right out and ran ok. I moved it up to a side road. I refuneded them there money as that was the right thing to do.
Why the hose poped off I dont know, maybe due to the radiator fan not working? I used a old stock spring clamp on the hose years back.
He had no idea it was running hot as:
1. Coolant temp guage wasnt workeing- and still doesnt-
2. No low coolant warning LED blinked- still not working
3. Radiator fan never came on- still doesnt work- must be connected to the same sensor as the dash guage
A few questions:
1. Is the lower end ok? Blowby is the same.
2. Why was the car compressionless when it was hot but normal after it cooled?
3. What normaly causes shutdown of car when it gets ultra hot? Pistions expanding or do the injectors stop firing as they expand internally?
Here is a video of how it runs now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw3RVFgjHKw