Still overheating

[turborabbit]

Hey, folks, the weather broke and I spent some quality time with my '86 Jetta TD transplant. I replaced the water pump (old one appeared good), reassembled it, timed it and drove around for about ten minutes. Same problem! Overheats-steam blowing out of the reservoir (sp?) Compression values had been reasonable, but I'm thinking head gasket. Needed the little truck for a ride back from Edmonton, but think I'll go without it and pull another compression check when I get back. I still hav e one leaking nozzle, tried twice to rebuild-no luck. Opinions are welcome, espcically if they save a head gasket. Oh, yeah, I did not re'torque after rings and incerts. Fatal flaw? It's got about 4,000 on the rebuild.

[jtanguay]

have you checked everything including rad fan? you also need to confirm that the t-stat is opening, so idle the car (and revving it to help it get up to temp) till you feel the rad get hot while checking the temp gauge.

[turborabbit]

Thanks, Jtanguay, I ran w/out the t-stat-same result, fan has always worked intermitantly-rarely needed the way I drive. I'm going to check compression when I get back from Edmonton and prolly change the HG :-[and then torque and re-torque properly. I think the turbo runs higher compression than the n/a and I got caught being lazy-thanks again-warren

[jtanguay]

Thanks, Jtanguay, I ran w/out the t-stat-same result, fan has always worked intermitantly-rarely needed the way I drive. I'm going to check compression when I get back from Edmonton and prolly change the HG :-[and then torque and re-torque properly. I think the turbo runs higher compression than the n/a and I got caught being lazy-thanks again-warren

hmm you shouldn't run without the t-stat. but that aside, if the fan does come on, then from bone cold remove the expansion tank cap and start the car. if you see bubbles then its the HG. your cap might be bad but thats not too common.