No, I'm not on crack! I'm fixing that derned cracked 11mm block....

[ToddA1]

I'd think that running the car with a little "Purple Power" or Super Clean" in the coolant would clean it out best.  You'd have to flush and fill a couple times, but I'd think it'd be the quickest and easiest way.

I'm sure Simple Green would be the safest, but I like harsh, undiluted chemicals.

-Todd

[maxfax]

I used purple power / super clean in the past..  The trouble with these is that they foam..   I believe simple green does as well...  THe foam builds up get's sucked into the rest of the sytem and causes issues similar to the ones cause by air pockets..   Put some Joy dish washing soap in an automatic dishwasher and you'll see what I mean.. 

Dishwasher or laundry detergent seem to work best as these don't foam..  The last few years that I have been running this engine with oil going in the coolant I've been using cheapo generic dishwasher gel..   It's been enough to keep the hoses from turning to goo, well at least not severely..

Even with flushing all the components individually (having hot water in the garage rocks!!) I plan on running dishwasher soap and water for a while anyhow..  Aside from cleaning things out even more I don;t wanna waste antifreeze if it continues to spew things where it shouldn't.. I'll just keep it in the garage for now to prevent freezing..

An update on the rest of the progress, I have the head torqued on..   Everything felt good, no eerie sounds or odd loose feeling studs.. I actually put the head on last night and left it sit to let the hylomar cure..  Gonna flush the engine with some hot water before assembling further..   DIdn;t get any time to day to work on it today as I spend half the day dealing with insurance companies and such..   Snow Plow vs Crown Victoria = Tie

[maxfax]

ARGH! No injector heat shields today...       I can;t believe I forgot to order those, or that I don;t have an extra set around...     Anyone in central PA have an extra set they wanna sell???

[truckinwagen]

that sucks, I always try to have a set or two around.
always order at least three sets at a time, that way you know you will have them when you need them.

wish I was closer and could toss you a set.

[maxfax]

I usually have at least one extra set if not more..   I think that one extra set was used when I installed the injectors in the new engine a few days ago..  ..  Oh well..  This gave me some time to tackle this terminally leaky injector.. I think the line itself is the culprit, the end looks a tad funky compared to the rest...

[maxfax]

Well if nothing else comes of this I FINALLY FOUND MY OVER COOLING PROBLEM!!!!   Yes I'm that excited..   Stupidly simple it was too...  I've replaced the t-stat many times trying to fix this to no avail.. Even replaced the water pump at the last t-belt change..  Yet I never bothered to closely inspect the water pump housing..   The darn thing was erroded and letting coolant past the t-stat..   I'm not even sure how it managed not to leak to be honest.... This thing must have had some nasty coolant (besides what I was running) at one time..   Of course the donar car for these parts had 546,000 miles when the odometer quit.... 

On to the crack....    I filled and pressure tested the cooling system, it held 20psi for about an hour..  Compression was pretty close 470ish across the board..  Keep in mind the engine has not been run yet, and the compession is slightly higher to begin with on this combo, but not bad none the less... I may do a leak down if I don;t have heat shields in the morning....

[rabbitman]

Sound's good

[maxfax]

A few phone calls, a bit of begging I got me some heat shields..     Injectors in, engine fired till the fan cycled, retorqued the head..  No bubbles in the expansion tank, no excess pressure in the system.. No signs of oil yet but that usually take a bit of driving to show up....

TO set things off it's 19 F out this morn...

The first ride I took it pretty easy..  Temp crept up slowly till it hit 220 F then bam it dropped back down to 190..  Hmmm  checked coolant, topped as necessary, tried again with the same results..   Having heat was a totally new sensation but I think the t-stat is stickey..  No wonder, it's been living in a mix of dishwasher soap, antifreeze, oil, and water.. To verify I took it one more ride till the temp hit about 210 ( half on the factory gauge) stopped and felt the lower hose, twas cold..   

   Rooted though my crap and found a 180 F stat... A tad cooler than the 195 F I was running but have the WVO heat exchangers removed to be cleaned out so no biggie..  Took another gentle ride, GOLDEN!  Took a few laps aroudn the block a few times pushing it harder each time, still good.. I do notice the temp drops rather quickley when going down hill, this stat may be questionable as well, or it could just be that it's getting a bit chilly out..    So anyhow feeling brave I took it a hell run up the mountain..   THe temp climbed just as it always has..  Hit 210 but no more..   Started dropping after I stopped at the top..  Going down the mountain the temp dropped down to about 140.. 

About 40 miles on it and no coolant loss, over heat, or signs of oil.. Not even a fuel leak for once... I'll be anxious to try it out some more the next few days when the temps come back up... I'm *almost* tempted to put antifreeze in it, but I think I've taunted fate enough so far.. 

[Rabbit on Roids]

do yourself a favor and put the green stuff in it, as we speak i have a frozen (and possibly broken) diesel audi and a frozen rabbit.

[maxfax]

I fully intend to..   I left it sit in the garage last night to prevent having a Bunnycicle..  That's actually how I got this particular car to begin with..  I plan to take it a good run this afternoon with soapy water for coolant then give it one more good flushing..  I need to change the t-stat anyhow.. 

I wonder if the aluminum housings are meaty enough to drill and tap for a drain plug.. 

[ToddA1]

I wonder if the aluminum housings are meaty enough to drill and tap for a drain plug.. 

I've always wanted to do that. Even if you welded a bung, then tapped, that.... draining these cars can be a pain. 

I always drill a few small holes in the thermostat rim, so the block would eventually drain, too.

-Todd

[Vincent Waldon]

I wonder if the aluminum housings are meaty enough to drill and tap for a drain plug..  

Fatmobile's got the waterpump covered:

http://www.vwdieselparts.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7111

Note that draining the waterpump only drains the block...he's got a great picture on that thread of using a screwdriver to drain the rad... suppose you could drill and plug the t-stat housing as well.

[maxfax]

Brilliant!   Shame I just got done putting that housing back on.. 

 I may still try something with the t-stat housing and the drilled t-stat...  Much easier to remove..     All I have for aluminum welding are rods for the arc welder..  They aren;t pretty but if I could get a blob of bubble gum on there, grind it to something presentable, then drill and tap..

[ToddA1]

LMK how it works out.  I like the drilled elbow, better.  I grabbed one from the jy months ago, but it's still sitting in the parts bucket.  The furthest I got was cleaning it.

I'm curious if ya JB Weld bung would be enough.  It would be easy to scar the aluminum, construct a small cardboard tube, and fill it when attached to the elbow.  Drill and tap that.

-Todd

[gldgti]

nice to hear you had a win (so far, fingers crossed). on the waterpump erosion thing - many cleaners (especially non-foaming ones) are very alkaline - this isnt good for aluminium parts, particularly the low alloy cast waterpumps, etc.