so do I remove the bottom hose from the rad..........let some water drain out, put in Anti-Freeze ( after putting the hose back on ) fill up with water and Hey Presto.............Or is it not that simple......." How much Anti-Freeze will I need, Any particular brand or what........." .Please Help.......................:(

Yes, only use VWs G12+ (nice and pink) if its only water thats in there.

If the water is nice and clean and clear, simply drain a litre out and pop a litre of G12+ in. It will soon get mixed up with the water pump circulating it all round.

Worst case is just drain the whole lot out (probably worth changing the thermostat while you are at it), and refill with a 50/50 mix of G12+ and water.

Thanks Tom...Have a Free Thanks on me...

Cheers AG. Is the water nice and clean??

If theres rusty ****e in there then I'd recommend popping the top hose of the radiator too and flushing it out both ways with a hose pipe.

Cheers AG. Is the water nice and clean??

If theres rusty ****e in there then I'd recommend popping the top hose of the radiator too and flushing it out both ways with a hose pipe.

Can't do at the Moment, going to attempt tommorow......I'll keep you informed of ther progress....God help us...

Regardless of what mix you're using, what are you going to lose by draining a fill that's nothing but water completely?

Just the possibility of introducing an airlock... which would be avoided by only draining a litre.

Although personally I'd be doing a drain, flushing with clean water and changing the thermostat before refilling.

any monoethelineglycol based antifreeze with a corrosion inhibitor will be ok. be it red, green or blue

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/felicia-fun-forman/1995-1-3-felicia-antifreeze/93292/

3 Litres they say.

I'd drain the lot and 50/50 g12+ coolant (about £5.50 per 1.5 litre from GSF) with deionised water (52p a litre in Wilkinsons and supermarkets), which is cheaper than the coolant so no excuse for using tap water Run car with coolant cap off (I drape a cloth over the top to prevent any splashes) and wait till the car gets up to temperature and the fan cuts in, you could probably rev the car for a bit to send the water around faster, don't know if it helps reduce air locks. Let it cool and top up to the correct level. The G12+ isn't massively expensive and is a life-time coolant, so it's probably a good idea to flush the system as described above to get any crap out, then you don't need to worry about the coolant again until a problem necessitates it's draining.

Haynes says 6 litres but mine took nearly 5 litres so not sure if that's just a guidance figure or a litre was still floating around in the system.

Change the Thermostat after flushing the rad?

I had to to get mine changed after it overheated and the fan didn't cut in.

:eek:

Came with a new sender housing too.

Luckily the head gasket was fine, no white mist under the filler cap although the car did mayonnaise for a bit.

The manual recommends either the pink stuff (I had some Bosch antifreeze) or the blue stuff.

And don't mix it.

Think my rad needs a flush soon too.

Just the possibility of introducing an airlock... which would be avoided by only draining a litre.

Although personally I'd be doing a drain, flushing with clean water and changing the thermostat before refilling.

I'll risk an airlock over the possibility of freezing the bottom of the radiator and overheating with a cold day and a 1/6 concentration antifreeze mix thanks.

morrisons sell texaco red antifreeze for £1.99 a litre. I use this and find it very good

The litre "in the system" would be what was trapped in the heater matrix when you drained it and that's usually the man place for an annoying air-lock (the heater stops working).

Modern systems with a pressurised header tank are self bleeding but if you're thinking about just adding anti-freeze to the header tank & leaving the rest as a mixture of rust, old a/f & water DON'T! It's not part of the main cioolant circulation system so you could have the a/f sitting in the header tank for ages & not mixed in.

If you're going to add neat a/f anywhere, do so through the radiator top-hose then it will get mixed.

The biggest danger concerned with air-locks was to do with old systems where an air-lock would form around the thermostat (the highest point in the system) and it would fail to open when the engine got up to temperature - BANG!

Mix the a/f & water before you put it in and keep the top hose off the thermostat housing as you fill it. Replace the top hose when coolant reaches the thermostat & then fill the header-tank up to level. Top it up once the engine has been to working temperature if it needs it.

Now's the time for coolant system flushes & new a/f.

Day before yesterday the heater stopped working,

water level OK, :confused:

temp gauge reading OK :confused:,

Then my OH says there is white smoke :eek: .

OMG:jawsmall:

Further reading back I found this :-

"on the 1.3 the procedure is to remove the temprenture sensor situated on the thermostat housing when filling"

So I bled the thing by running up to temp. and loosening the temperature sensor.

It's been running OK again, so far, heater's working, no "white smoke".

Time for some more K seal, I think.

White smoke??? Where white smoke? Not your zorst I hope! :eek: ( @ OH meter). White smoke from the zorst & heater problems are often a sign of head gasket failure. :(

Thanks for the link to the post about bleeding the system, I forgot about putting the heater to Hot when draining, flushing & bleeding the system.

White smoke out of the exhaust at this time of year wouldn't be unusual. It will just be condensation being vented out of the exhaust, and it is good for your exhaust as it is taking out any water/condensation that settles in there.

Haynes manual says the system is self-bleeding and makes no mention of removing the temperature sensor.

White smoke out of the exhaust at this time of year wouldn't be unusual. It will just be condensation being vented out of the exhaust, and it is good for your exhaust as it is taking out any water/condensation that settles in there.

Haynes manual says the system is self-bleeding and makes no mention of removing the temperature sensor.

It was the OH! meter response to the "white smoke" I was concerned with. Condensation from the zorst on a cold day for the first couple of minutes is normal, I agree (On a side-note: It's the water inside of exhausts that rusts them through rather than external corrosion, not a lot we can do about that except fit a stainless system.)

As for re-filling, removing the temp sensor when doing so will ensure the engine is full without having to rely on self bleeding completely.

Should you run the engine with the temp sensor removed? Or just fill the system from empty slowly with the sensor removed. I'm thinking from a filled already may have an air lock perspective

NOooo! The temp sensor sits at the top of the primary cooling circuit, so the coolant is circulated immediately by the water pump as soon as the engine is started - unless you want an antifreeze fountain :P

A few days ago I removed the temp sensor (engine not running). You get a small water fountain as soon as you remove the expansion tank filler cap, I guess because of the gravity of the rest of the water in the system showing it does it's job of making sure the water gets high in the thermostat.

I can't help feeling I still have an airlock (temperature has a habit of rising and falling), but seems there's nothing more I can do, without draining the system again. Doesn't seem to be harming the car anyway so mayaswell leave it. Have squeezed/tapped pipes, removed temp sender (topped up a little coolant into there to make sure it was at the maximum height), and ran engine with cap off for ages.

Are you supposed to leave the cap off as the system cools down? Haynes doesn't make this explicit so I would assume it doesn't matter. Either way, for my final attempt I am leaving it off to cool down

A few days ago I removed the temp sensor (engine not running). You get a small water fountain as soon as you remove the expansion tank filler cap, I guess because of the gravity of the rest of the water in the system showing it does it's job of making sure the water gets high in the thermostat.

I can't help feeling I still have an airlock (temperature has a habit of rising and falling), but seems there's nothing more I can do, without draining the system again. Doesn't seem to be harming the car anyway so mayaswell leave it. Have squeezed/tapped pipes, removed temp sender (topped up a little coolant into there to make sure it was at the maximum height), and ran engine with cap off for ages.

Are you supposed to leave the cap off as the system cools down? Haynes doesn't make this explicit so I would assume it doesn't matter. Either way, for my final attempt I am leaving it off to cool down

Your temprenture gauge when warming up should go up half way between the half way point and the 3/4 point on your guage. The thermostat will then kick in and the stick should drop to just below half way and then rise to the half way point. My guage fluctuates above and below the half way point once warm and i would say that this is normal.

If you are concerned about your cooling system run the engine till warm (make sure it is warm though) and put your hand over the radiator at different points all the way to the bottom. Then feel both the top and bottom hoses which should both be hot although the bottom will be a bit cooler due to the radiator doing its job. Next go in the car and put your heater on max and it should be too hot for your hand after a bit when you put it over the vent. If everything is ok here then you are ok.

If your heater starts going cool then i would be concerened.

One thing to note though is the possibility of radiator's clogging up and therefore not doing their job fully which can in turn lead to them feeling cooler in parts. To cure this reverse flush the radiator although best thing is a replacement.

If you are concerned about your cooling system run the engine till warm (make sure it is warm though) and put your hand over the radiator at different points all the way to the bottom. Then feel both the top and bottom hoses which should both be hot although the bottom will be a bit cooler due to the radiator doing its job. Next go in the car and put your heater on max and it should be too hot for your hand after a bit when you put it over the vent. If everything is ok here then you are ok.

I put my hand on the radiator earlier. When the top hose was hot, the top of the radiator was warm but the bottom was cold, and the bottom hose was cold. (like it had no warm water going through). Given a few minutes it warmed up and the fan cut in. I am guessing this could be normal too as the amount of water to be displaced to get warm water to the bottom hose, is the total volume of the radiator, and water will only move slowly with the thermostat open a small amount.

I put my hand on the radiator earlier. When the top hose was hot, the top of the radiator was warm but the bottom was cold, and the bottom hose was cold. (like it had no warm water going through). Given a few minutes it warmed up and the fan cut in. I am guessing this could be normal too as the amount of water to be displaced to get warm water to the bottom hose, is the total volume of the radiator, and water will only move slowly with the thermostat open a small amount.

The thermostat should really only open when it reaches the required temp (circa 80 degrees I think)

Idea is to keep the coolant in the block to assist the lump to get to operating temp quicker.

once it reaches the temp, it should open fully and then coolant heads to the rad. Coolant temp should then stabilise, circa 90degrees on the temp gauge.

there will obviously be a change (drop) in temp as you get lower down the Rad.

If the car doesnt reach temp on the gauge afer about 10 mins (as is currently the case with Woodie) there's a likelyhood that the thermostat has jammed half open (SPi) or that its broken its plastic mountings (MPi)

question is.. do you fix it or leave it?

Woodie is faster when thermostat is broken as he runs richer than usual, downside is the fact he drinks like Ollie Reid on a bender...

I put my hand on the radiator earlier. When the top hose was hot, the top of the radiator was warm but the bottom was cold, and the bottom hose was cold. (like it had no warm water going through). Given a few minutes it warmed up and the fan cut in. I am guessing this could be normal too as the amount of water to be displaced to get warm water to the bottom hose, is the total volume of the radiator, and water will only move slowly with the thermostat open a small amount.

You need to make sure engine is fully warm. The radiator should still be hot at the bottom as after all the engine does need water to be hot to run efficiently. It should however feel distinctly hotter at the top.

If this is the case then nowt to worry about. If you are in any doubt check thermostat is working