kentphil1

You need to be cautious using too much radweld, as that can cause you other issues. It really is only meant as a stop gap solution, but it might give you a few more months of use perhaps longer if it actually can get into the hole and seal it. How much coolant do you think you may have had to top up since you put the radweld in?, just roughly to the nearest pint?. You could try running the car on the drive once its warm for 15-20 mins with the climatronic on max to let the radweld fully circulate into the heater rad. The thing is a tiny pin hole in the rad will produce a lot of steam once the system is warm, but may not need much radweld to seal it. Radweld needs to enter the leak area so that it can react with being in the open air as the car cools to seal the leak of fluid. It's a bit like toothpaste trying to squeeze out of a tube, while the cap is on it is nice and fluid, but leave the cap off overnight and it goes to a more solid lump on the end of the tube. That is a well over simplified way of explaining how rad sealers work, but hopefully you see where I'm coming from with it.

If it is blowing thick mist, it does sound like a heater radiator, as that is just fine steam being sucked through the vents. I don't want to teach grandma how to suck eggs here, but on a normal car you have 2 radiators in the system. The first is the large cooling radiator which most people know lives at the front of the car and is fairly easily accessible. There is a second heater radiator which is about 1/8 size of the main rad, just for the purpose of providing heating which lives in the air distribution box that is located inside the car behind the dash. To get access to remove the box and then to allow removal of the radiator means almost a complete interior strip - i.e seats, dash, centre console and a fair bit more. This vid albeit on a lhd car shows what needs to be done, as regardless of which side the steering wheel is on, the basic job is the same. I had a neighbour who had a quote that was in the region of £900 fitted from a vw soecialist, the local main agent wouldn't even quote. the only way this gets cheap is to use your own labour, but it is a fairly big job and not for the faint hearted as the aircon deeds to depressurised and then regassed at the end. You can confirm if it is the radiator by trying the car with the temp set on cold, if it is slower to mist or does not mist then that is your issue, as the rad is out of the system when the temp is set to cold. I appreciate the current weather does not lend itself to driving without heat but you could run the car up to temp on your drive with the heater temp on cold and just see what happens. There is a tiny possiblity that your air con drain could be blocked, but if the test i detailed above yields no mist, it probably is not that. When you installed the Radweld, did you put the heater temp on maximum hot?, if not, it may not have found it's way to the heater rad yet. If you want more info please ask, hope it helps, Phil

I would be inclined to get the car onto a cooling system pressure tester and see what that yields, including testing the radiator cap itself. You have done the obvious bypasses and diagnostics, time to dig a little deeper. One other thing, you mention that the fans cut in when they should, but are they runing at the low or high speeds?, as the fans have 2 operational speed modes.

I have used that method for nearly 10 years, so can also vouch for it's effectiveness. I also use a Pingi on the dash if the weather is really cold and damp - also very effective. However, if it has the startings of a heater radiator issue, where they can leak tiny amounts overnight which are only really noticed as an odour for the first minute of the radiator warming rather than coolant loss and an oily deposit on the screen that takes 2 -3 days to build up, it will turn the screen to a fog like vision area once the warm fumes hit. This will only clear by wiping the screen, as the deposits are almost like steam, which will only get worse as the heater rad degades further. I 100% agree as to the effectiveness of getting rid of condensation, but I am just adding a word of caution if it is a heater rad, as I have been on the end of a failing unit and it's not nice to live with. This was why I was hoping the OP might have reposted, just to we could sort the wheat from the chaff (or the rad from the condensation ) Keep safe all, Phil.

^^ As above, drivers door master loom may have issues.

If what I think may be the issue turns out to be fact, the gel approach may make things worse, but it is worth a try even if just to rule out condensation. Perhaps the OP could post his findings so we can assist them further.

When you look through the translucent expansion tank with the engine running, do you see a regular flow of coolant running back to the tank if an assistant lifts the rpm to 1000 - 1200 ish?, or does it just sputter back or even no flow at all?. When was the water pump/cambelt last changed?.

When the engine gets up to temperature, and you have the heater on, do you smell a slightly sweet smell for a minute or two until it settles down?, Is the deposit on the screen slightly oily/slippery to the touch?,

If it is a Westfalia removable unit, the electrics should be on a drop down bracket that can swing down from behind the bumper cover. The pivot should be visible as it is bolted to the towbar beam, behind the bumper. If it hasn't been used in a while, the pivot may require a dose of WD40 on the pivot bolt to get it moving again. Hope it helps.

CV joints tend to knock more when placed under the most load when turning through the tightest angle. To make this easier to visualise, imagine a group of soldiers maching in ranks, and the leader asks them to turn. the soldiers on the inside if they are turning right, tend to just mark time, whereas the soldiers on the outer ranks carry on marching at pace to make the turn. In your case, the joint on the o/s/f is turning a tighter angle at a lower speed, while the n/s/f turns at a lesser angle and higher speed assisted by the diff, otherwise the inner tyre would destroy itself. As has already been said, joints usually fail when the protective boot splits, but it is not unheard of a joint to fail just due to excess wear and tear. Best plan is to jack the car up safely, use an axle stand to support the car just in case of movement, then put the steering on lock with the car switched off and rotate the wheel by hand while looking at the joint and boot to see if anything is not right under there. Worn joint also tend to lock and release when rotated rather than smoothly rotate (difficult to explain, but you'll know it when you see it, it's that obvious). Hope it helps, difficult subject to explain in a single post, good luck

Assuming that we are both talking about the resonating light tap at 7 and 18 secs, have a look at your exhaust centre support mounts in the cross member and front pipe mounts onto the subframe. The support irons on the exhaust itself can rot through and break free leaving the support postioned lovely into the rubber mounts, but not actually attached to the actual exhaust pipe as the weld has failed. You can test a cv joint, by finding an empty carpark, and doing circles both left and right on ful lock. If the joint is faulty, it will rattle and chatter a bit like an old fashioned football rattle. The speed of the rattle will vary depending on which wheel is turning the tightest i.e., left turn, the n/s wheel turns a tighter circle than the o/s, so the o/s wheel rotates faster than the n/s. The reverse applies on right turns, hope it helps.

When I had this issue on an Audi a while back, I emailed Varta and they told me to change the last digit in the original serial number by one digit and enter it in VCDS. Might be worth an email to Varta to see if they are still using this method. Hope it helps.

Dry or worn roll bar bushes?, can you reproduce the noise by pushing the suspension up and down while parked?.

Rob, as skomaz said check your earths. In view of the other "modifications", the the previous owner has been up to with the improvements, has he been monkeying around with the dash earth?. When you reseated the sensors, did you put them in dry, or did you use any lubrication?. I normally put a light coating of silcone grease round them to make sure they slide in and seat properly. Voltage drop could also be down to oxide buid up on really old wiring, What is the line resistance like on the wiring you are testing Rob?. Good luck, Phil.

Yikes, Somethings got a little close in there, the yellow trace wire looks to have issues too. When he said it won't be cheap, did he suck air through his teeth at the same time?, that's usually a sign of impending pain. I think you've probably found your issue there, looks like the previous owner fancied himself as a budding auto sparky, but his ambitions exceeded his talent. Good luck with it all Rob, keep us posted.

Epic!,

As It's going to be a track car, why not wrap the roof to tidy it up?.

Hi Rob, Is the brake system holding pressure with the the engine running?. I would be inclined to jack up each corner in turn, drop it onto an axle stand, start the car and then get someone to bury the brake pedal while you check for any seepage. The abs system runs at a fairly consistent pressure, and as such, will put more load on the line connectors than just trying the system with the engine off. Also, being an older design, and more of a pioneering ABS system, there is more potential for small air locks than a more modern system due to pipe run designs not being as well thought out as they are today. All that being said, I would still have one in a heartbeat.

Alloy LCR/TT arms are slotted, standard pressed arms are not.

Have you checked you main earth points underneath the battery tray yet?. also there is an earth point near the ecu under the scuttle panel on the plenum valley. if your plenum drains are blocked, that maybe temporarily immersing the earth itself in water until it dries out rather than drains away as it should,

You have some interesting codes there, have you driven through any deep water recently?, if not, I would be doing some checks on your oxygen sensor votages, and a live read of your MAF through VCDS. I would also check your battery fiuse box has no terminals starting to melt, as some of those codes relate to battery under voltage. Have you done any battery voltage checks yet?, if so, what were the readings?. Did you clear down the codes to see which ones return?, if not I would do that next. This could very well be wiring connections rather than a unit failure, so don't panic yet.

I tell you what Rob, this thread has made me realise a Quattro is an itch I really need to scratch.

Front lower radiator mounts that have failed can knock over bumps, easy way to check is to temp lodge a piece of foam between rad and crossmember to see if noise reduces or goes away. If it is them, I'm not sure they are still available anymore, so you may need to get creative. Also double check your dog bone bushes are not seperated.

Vcds will only clear the code, but in time, it will return again - more frequently as the colder weather takes hold. A standard generic remap will not code out the light, that comes under what is called a custom remap. Best thing is to select your tuner, then ask for a price. R Tech in Hinkley may be close to you, as most of the others are a bit of a trek to get a good one. I would only consider a mobile mapper if you can check out his work / get user opinions beforehand, as some of the mobile people's maps have not played well in the toyroom. Hope it helps.

know that feeling well, blinked, looked again and my two little un's were suddenly 26 and 30.