running hot, and oil in the breather hose. 84 NA rabbit

[tSoG-84bit]

So, I'm back and so is my car. I was having trouble with overheating, and runaway. I was outa town, and my parents picked it up. It overheated, and blew the upper rad hose. My dad replaced it, and made it home with no more problems. I do not have a splash guard under my valve cover, and I have a breather snaked around my engine bay and under the passenger side of the car. I guess on the way home from the mechanic it sprayed a good bit of oil out, and all over the passenger side.

I added coolant, and idled with the cap off for a while to burp it, and put the end of the breather into a plastic soda bottle. It warmed up in no time, and was almost 2/3's by the time I pulled out the driveway. I made a quick loop on the country roads and the temp held about 3/4 full. the harder I drove, the lower my temp went. 50mph in 4th temperature climbed. 50mph in 3rd temp would go almost down to 1/2. I stopped in to see my sister at work, about 15 miles away, and temp held between 1/2 and 2/3 full while driving it hard. Drove home, pretty uneventful, but my catch bottle is about 1/3 full of oil. Is it ok to reuse this oil, or should I dispose of it?

I have an oil pressure guage, and once warm it was between 45-65psi depending on RPM. If I was shifting at redline it sometimes climbed up to 80ish. Is this too much?

I'm glad to be back on the road, but I won't be going back to that mechanic. Took almost 3 months, and quite a bit of $ and still having problems.

Thanks in advance for any advice, or tips.

tSoG

[jtanguay]

i would be worrieda bout contaminants in the catch can.. if it was totally sealed up i wouldn't be worried... maybe sand and dirt got in to contaminate it??? i wouldn't take the chance... maybe if i was really desperate...

[tSoG-84bit]

makes sense to me. I guess I'll just keep a couple quarts of oil in the back.

<update>So I drove about 20 miles and picked up a friend. Got about 2/3 a quart in my catch bottle, so I poured it into a spare gallon jug I had in the back. Added a little oil, and cruised on down the road. 35+ miles later stopped at the scenic overlook. (imagine pretty mountains surrounding a large lake) I got about another 1/2 quart of oil in my catch bottle. Ran about 2/3 temp the whole way.

After our hike, we drove back down into town and had dinner. No oil in the bottle, so I dropped my friend off at home, and was driving through town and my temp gauge jumped a few ticks. Since I was still in town I stopped at the gas station and popped the hood. Had a few splashes of oil in the bottle, and lots of pressure in my coolant reservoir. I popped the cap, It was low, so I filled to the line and started it back up, it spit and sputtered for about 20 seconds before finally calming down with a steady stream. Temp was down to a lil over 1/2. put the pressure cap back on, Drove it 20 miles home.
</update>


I'm not sure why it is still building pressure, but it's not overheating all the time, but a quart every 100 miles seems a bit ricidulous. Anyone know where I can get a splash guard to put under my valve cover? Is it a complex job?
Thanks again.

tSoG

[jtanguay]

hmmm any parts place should be able to order it from vw.

as for the overheating, the gauge should be at halfway mark, or a little bit higher than that...  i think that 2/3 is about 110C or maybe 115C.... so if the engine is already that hot, and you need the extra power to climb a hill... then you're putting some serious heat/stress into the motor..  

i bought a thermostat from the dealer... and it didnt open fully so i was having overheating issues myself.  i never let my car get to 2/3's on the gauge though... that is uncharted territory for me.

[tSoG-84bit]

Well, I put it over some serious hills this weekend, it held steady between 1/2-3/4 (still below red) the whole time. The one time it overheated, I wasn't driving hard, or going up any hills. It got up close to red, and I pulled into the gas station and topped of my res. (temp went back down and stayed there)

I drove to the lake again today, and got a couple cups of oil in my catch bottle on the drive up. I also added about a quart of coolant to my res.

Is there anything that could be causing my oil problem, and my coolant loss, or am I looking at two separate problems? I haven't had any green puddles under my car so I doubt I just have a leak.

thanks for the input jtanguay.

tSoG

[jtanguay]

um... i think that the red indicates 120 or 130C... maybe someone else can chime in on that...

if you're losing coolant I would say check your hoses for some pinholes.  running at those temps the hoses like to start bulging.  if you have one of those coolant meter things that measures what temp it is good at, then test if it can handle up to 120C.  if it can only handle 100C, then you are losing it from steam evaporation (this is what you want... as a head gasket problem would not be cool!)

i seriously recommend fixing the overheating issue before driving it too much longer... you may blow a rad hose, and then can be guaranteed of some sort of head failure.  my problem was simply a faulty thermostat.

make sure that your rad fan kicks on, and that your rad is getting heat flowing to it when the engine temp is hot.  if the rad stays cool and your gauge is at 3/4, then your t-stat is most likely not opening all the way.

in the meantime... don't kill your car!!! if you see the temp gauge climb up, ease off the pedal a bit... baby it for as long as you can.  it's cheaper ni the long run!

[tSoG-84bit]

So, I am pretty sure I have a 190*F thermostat. That would give me a higher temp reading wouldn't it? As for my oil problem, I was wondering what the proper name for the oil baffle was, or the part number... I can't seem to find one online. I am going to go shopping tomorrow, :-) I'm gonna buy seat covers so I dont stick to my seats, and coolant so I can flush my system, and some hose because everyone knows life is better when you got some hose.