I have one of those flexi ones as well. It works very well if the clip you are going for is oriented in a plane that you can get to with the end - especially as the bit that grips the clip ends usually has a pair of metal strips with a hooked edge that the clip hooks behind and can't jump out of, unlike the pliers where the clips can slip out sideways unless you've got a grip straight on. The main disadvantage of the flexi is if the clip has been left rotated behind the pipe or similar where you just don't have enough room to get it on. Tend to use a combination of the above tools depending on the exact job in hand.
Help please - Pressure in coolant when cold
- Thread starter CrispyEdd
- Start date
CrispyEdd
Member
A little update, I seem to be at the end of the road with this one now...ubless anyone have any ideas to try.
Heres what i have:
Drive it like you stole it toasty hot engine, temp gausge 90, heater blows hot. Get back home, hand on the coolant pipe off the thermostat houseing and its cold.
When engine is cold open head tnak cap and pop, coolant spurts out. Evidence of it spurting out during driving on inner wing.
What Ive done:
Emptied the coolant, disconneting pipes off thermostat header tank and lower radiator, oil cooler refilled it got it hot, cooled it, drained it again changed thermostat for genuine audi one. Tested the thermostats old and new on the bog, both open fine.
When Ive pulled the thermostat out the engine watr fell out and flowed out.
I jetted water in every hole I could find until the outlets ran clear clear. Refilled with with correct coolant (Mannol g12+ pink)
Drove 35 mile to work some bits 80mph on motorway, got to work and pipe out of thermostat is cold to the radiator. Pipes from expansion tank to head red hot and firm, radiator top hose hot and firm.
The only thing different after flushing was the temp sender is slow sending the temp, it struggle to get to 90 now even more than before!
My feeling are theres some block in the head stopping water gettting to the thermostat when the pump is running and engine running?
Anyone got any ideas what else I can do please before my pipes pop
Heres what i have:
Drive it like you stole it toasty hot engine, temp gausge 90, heater blows hot. Get back home, hand on the coolant pipe off the thermostat houseing and its cold.
When engine is cold open head tnak cap and pop, coolant spurts out. Evidence of it spurting out during driving on inner wing.
What Ive done:
Emptied the coolant, disconneting pipes off thermostat header tank and lower radiator, oil cooler refilled it got it hot, cooled it, drained it again changed thermostat for genuine audi one. Tested the thermostats old and new on the bog, both open fine.
When Ive pulled the thermostat out the engine watr fell out and flowed out.
I jetted water in every hole I could find until the outlets ran clear clear. Refilled with with correct coolant (Mannol g12+ pink)
Drove 35 mile to work some bits 80mph on motorway, got to work and pipe out of thermostat is cold to the radiator. Pipes from expansion tank to head red hot and firm, radiator top hose hot and firm.
The only thing different after flushing was the temp sender is slow sending the temp, it struggle to get to 90 now even more than before!
My feeling are theres some block in the head stopping water gettting to the thermostat when the pump is running and engine running?
Anyone got any ideas what else I can do please before my pipes pop
CrispyEdd
Member
This morning I flushed every pipe and thermostat, pressurised air blasted every pipe and refilled again. Then I noticed with the expansion tank top pipe off that what trickled out under idle is fairly bubbly and foaming.
Is this the air that's pressurising the system from porous head or head gasket split I wonder or is it normal?
I guess the thermostat not opening is the pressure building while cool then it's too much pressure to let the spring open intonthe head?
Think I'll drill a hole in the old thermostat for now to let the whole system get pressured, then I won't have to pop the header cap every 2 hours!!
Is this the air that's pressurising the system from porous head or head gasket split I wonder or is it normal?
I guess the thermostat not opening is the pressure building while cool then it's too much pressure to let the spring open intonthe head?
Think I'll drill a hole in the old thermostat for now to let the whole system get pressured, then I won't have to pop the header cap every 2 hours!!
PlasticMac
Member
Wonder if someone has put detergent in there? Serious suggestion, water and or antifreeze doesn't foam, imo.
Mac.
Is it possible to install the housing without a thermostat in place and see if the radiator heats up? I assume the idea you mooted of the thermostat with a hole drilled in it is the same idea (just less likely to leak than my idea above).A little update, I seem to be at the end of the road with this one now...ubless anyone have any ideas to try.
Heres what i have:
Drive it like you stole it toasty hot engine, temp gausge 90, heater blows hot. Get back home, hand on the coolant pipe off the thermostat houseing and its cold.
When engine is cold open head tnak cap and pop, coolant spurts out. Evidence of it spurting out during driving on inner wing.
What Ive done:
Emptied the coolant, disconneting pipes off thermostat header tank and lower radiator, oil cooler refilled it got it hot, cooled it, drained it again changed thermostat for genuine audi one. Tested the thermostats old and new on the bog, both open fine.
When Ive pulled the thermostat out the engine watr fell out and flowed out.
I jetted water in every hole I could find until the outlets ran clear clear. Refilled with with correct coolant (Mannol g12+ pink)
Drove 35 mile to work some bits 80mph on motorway, got to work and pipe out of thermostat is cold to the radiator. Pipes from expansion tank to head red hot and firm, radiator top hose hot and firm.
The only thing different after flushing was the temp sender is slow sending the temp, it struggle to get to 90 now even more than before!
My feeling are theres some block in the head stopping water gettting to the thermostat when the pump is running and engine running?
Anyone got any ideas what else I can do please before my pipes pop
I note on this diagram posted in a similar thread by @audifan that the coolant pump is somewhere close to the thermostat return to the engine
- it couldn't be something related to the coolant pump could it?
CrispyEdd
Member
Its been massively rinsed out now with three, maybe four lost track, complete coolant refills and drives over last few weeks so its not that for sure. Does anyones diesel do the same?
CrispyEdd
Member
Yes thats the next move, I have the olf thermstat which was working okay, ill put a hole in it and drop it in later, just going for test run later with the current effort see if anytihngs changed. Be good to know if anyone elses top hose foams like that at all.
CrispyEdd
Member
Not sure pipe 5 exists in my setup AMF tdi 75 2002, it stops ot the coolant sender flange under tandem pump. The thermstat only has one pipe off it.
it might be the way that the schematic is drawn - the return to the block (when thermostat is closed) from the heater matrix has to exist, but I agree that the depiction is a little deceptive as it must be an internal connection rather than something we can see physically running around the front of the engine block to just beside the thermostat as the drawing implies. Pipe 5 definitely exists in both my AMF and BHC coming out of the heater matrix connector from the bulkhead and as you say then disappears underneath the tandem pump.
G
Guest 4123
Guest
Given that there's evidence of the correct antifreeze not being used, is it possible that the plastic paddles of the water pump have parted company (due to ice forming)? I'm not sure why that should produce pressurisation when cold though. Flushing out with 10% nitric acid should get rid of any products of corrosion - 10% nitric doesn't attack aluminium. Check the water pump first though.
RAB
RAB
G
Guest 4123
Guest
G
Guest 4123
Guest
Test the thermostat in a pan of water to see whether it opens at all.
RAB
RAB
CrispyEdd
Member
Yes already done that and have two thermostats. It’s the end of the road for the head. New engine it is, just have to limp this on for four weeks everyday now. Thanks all for the help, been interesting tryin to sort it but head gasket or porous head is the result. Engine also has leaking valve seals to some extent so game over for me, far beyond my skills to strip head and rebuild. Will offer engine to club just n case anyone wants it later when out.
I've just finally got under the bonnet of my 2002 AMF and finally found the metal return pipe at the end of pipe number 5 while hunting for a source of dried coolant droplets on top of the gearbox casing immediately below this area. There are two runs of rubber coolant pipe tiered vertically underneath the tandem pump, the upper of which goes into the coolant sensor housing and then on towards the heater matrix feed. The lower pipe underneath the housing (I think coming back from the heater matrix) has a T-junction - one fork goes to the oil cooler heat-exchanger, and the other into this angled metal pipe that goes around the corner of the engine block, behind the oil filter housing at low level and into the side of the thermostat housing exactly as depicted on the schematic (although with much less spacing than the diagram suggests).
I need to stress that seeing this required really decent natural light - I've ferreted in and around that part of the engine bay on many occasions and never noticed it before.
Howey
Member
@CrispyEdd
Was your issue resolved with a replacement engine? Did you inspect the old engine to see if the fault was visible?
Was your issue resolved with a replacement engine? Did you inspect the old engine to see if the fault was visible?
CrispyEdd
Member
Hi howey, sadly nothing resolved this issue and in the end I popped a new second hand) amf engine in. The original engine resides in my driveway. I have intentions of taking it apart to see what caused it, my guess is a porous head. Super unlucky but not as unlucky as the turbo blowing on the new engine two weeks after putting it in . Anyway all good now (for now) 
. Anyway all good now (for now)
Howey
Member
Ahh blimey think I remember it now was that the stray nut/bolt which took out the turbo?Hi howey, sadly nothing resolved this issue and in the end I popped a new second hand) amf engine in. The original engine resides in my driveway. I have intentions of taking it apart to see what caused it, my guess is a porous head. Super unlucky but not as unlucky as the turbo blowing on the new engine two weeks after putting it in
Did the coolant loss get worse at all?