Vw

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Dick
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Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Vw

#1 Post by Dick » Sun Oct 18, 2020 7:23 am

Morning chaps, my galaxy has brake problems and is waiting for Parts a good friend lent me his 19 year old vw sharan 1.9 tdi I gave it a good clean and topped up the levels. Its a third car thats used for picking up the kids or going fishing.
We had covered over 400 km and arrived in Rouen and the water level lights started flashing so i pulled over and when it was cooler i put in about a litre.. this kept me going on.. over the next 130km i added a further half a litre.. it was leaking from the filler cap/pressure release valve.. no oil in the water or vice versa .. tomorrow I'm going to get a new cap to see but could it be the head gasket leaking? And more importantly will i get back home next sunday?

Dick
Posts: 1280
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Re: Vw

#2 Post by Dick » Sun Oct 18, 2020 10:03 am

Update, i topped up the coolant this morning and when I opened the cap there was still pressure in the system even though i hadn't ran the engine since 5pm.. is this normal?

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JPB
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Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: Vw

#3 Post by JPB » Sun Oct 18, 2020 2:56 pm

If the HG has let go at a part of the fire ring where combustion pressure can access the water jacket then yes, this could be a sign of HGF. There's no reason for oil and coolant to mix when this is why the HG failed. The fact that excess pressure is detectable in the cooling system is strongly saying HGF to me, but there are other, less time consuming possible causes, for example mixing OAT and a glycol-based coolant, which combine to form a gel that's very good at clumping cooling systems up, but is unlikely unless the coolant were accidentally mixed and also, the level would be unlikely to reduce unless you removed the pressure cap, whereas you have both coolant loss and increased system pressure when running.
This could also be a cracked head, but these usually crack between valve seats rather than between the chambers and waterways, which is a denser and much less likely to crack area of the head.
Pull the head, get it checked for flatness and preferably for cracks with the head on a sheet of glass and coolant introduced at increasing pressure. It's very likely to bee warped after it's been losing coolant so you'd be doing this in any case, or paying someone to do it for you. Refacing and crack testing on most heads costs around £60 locally, no idea what France charges for the job..
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

Dick
Posts: 1280
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Re: Vw

#4 Post by Dick » Sun Oct 18, 2020 5:34 pm

Thanks for info.. im going to try and get it back home next weekend.. the owner said to leave it here but id rather get his car back to him ...

Dick
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Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Re: Vw

#5 Post by Dick » Tue Oct 20, 2020 6:59 pm

Hi chaps.. sharan has no oil/water mix at the moment .. do you think it will make a 340 mile trip home?

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JPB
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Re: Vw

#6 Post by JPB » Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:52 am

Rich wrote:
Tue Oct 20, 2020 6:59 pm
do you think it will make a 340 mile trip home?
Hmm, did you mean 340 miles under its own steam :o or 340 miles on a beavertail :D , all occupants of the VW sitting in the luxuriously appointed warmth of the truck's crew cab?
I reckon that steam may come into it at some point, but go on, give it a hurl. What could possibly go wrong?
:lol:

Keep us posted please, pictures from every coolant filling stop along the way, pictures showing the volume of fluid required and the odometer reading so that we can take a best guess at whether/when the thing will stop working.
;)
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

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Luxobarge
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Location: Horne, Surreyshire

Re: Vw

#7 Post by Luxobarge » Wed Oct 21, 2020 12:07 pm

Personally I'd not trust a VW to make it that far even if it was in perfect working order - but then my experience with VWs has been that of awful reliability, even on low-ish mileage cars. Perhaps as a Volvo driver I have too high expectations? Lol.

As above, do keep us updated, this should be a laugh for those of us smugly tucked up behind our PC screens..... Seriously, wishing you all the best with it and hope it'll be OK. I think my decision would be to go for it, but make sure I had breakdown and recovery cover first, just in case.
Some people are like Slinkies - they serve no useful purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them downstairs.

Dick
Posts: 1280
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Re: Vw

#8 Post by Dick » Wed Oct 21, 2020 4:54 pm

Update, after a very very long trip with fluid checks every 100km ish until I got to Rouen and the bloody thing didnt leak a drop... i avoided the motorway even though Gladys gps lady kept getting very cross.. alencon passed without incident then le mans in rush hour traffic with one eye on the temperature gauge was a bit of brown trousers time but she kept her cool.... i had the heating on full all the way back so ive probably lost a stone or so.. im now going to prepare my clio so i can do a return trip tomorrow so i can get wifey the kids and the dogs... I'll let you know what happens in the next exciting episode of rich, lost in France and shouting at the gps....
Oh got chance of a tidy 1.4 206 with about 52k miles on the clock .. any thoughts chaps

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Luxobarge
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Location: Horne, Surreyshire

Re: Vw

#9 Post by Luxobarge » Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:34 pm

Sounds like there's not much wrong with it? If it can do a trip of that length with no fluid loss and no overheating? Keep up the good work!

Bets being placed that there's nothing wrong with the Sharan but the Clio will break down...... :twisted: :twisted:
Some people are like Slinkies - they serve no useful purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them downstairs.

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JPB
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Re: Vw

#10 Post by JPB » Wed Oct 21, 2020 9:59 pm

Luxobarge wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:34 pm
..Bets being placed that there's nothing wrong with the Sharan but the Clio will break down...... :twisted: :twisted:
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Lucky Rich wrote:rich, lost in France and shouting at the gps....
:lol: That made me laugh so hard that at least 400uL of rum just came out of my right nostril! I did look it up on Kindle but there's not yet a book listed on there sharing the name, so get writing that autobiographical tome and make the title your intellectual property ASAP, so that Hollywood doesn't beat you to it.

:scared:
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

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