What are the chances of my Golf still being good

[Infinitrium]

After sitting for about 5 months? The last time I drove it was sometime in October last year, when I drove it from a friends place to my own driveway, and since then it has sat in the same spot. Once again I am considering buying a motor for it and getting it installed.  I asked a local backyard honest mechanic if he's done Golfs before and he said he has, and he usually charges about $250 to put a motor in one. I forgot to ask if he's done any diesels though.


PS: Since my Golf broke down approx 7 months ago, I've managed to go through 2 other cars, a 96 Cavalier that I blew out the rod bearings on and a 96 Saturn that I somehow blew the diff pin in the transmission. I'm currently on (driving) car #3, an 86 Chrysler LeBaron.

[burn_your_money]

Well it might need some tires and brake work but other then that...

How did you blow up the motor?

[theman53]

what is wrong with it that you are not driving it?

[Infinitrium]

I haven't blown the Golf's motor yet, but the reason I'm not driving it is that I was having some pretty serious overheating trouble with it. It would boil the coolant pretty hard but the radiator would remain cool to the touch, and that was after a new water pump and thermostat were installed. Plus either me and my dad messed up the IP timing when we were replacing the water pump or the motor really did get damaged, but the last time it ran (October last year when I parked it, it was running rough, misfiring on one cylinder and it was very low on power.

[Rabbit on Roids]

sounds like a classic case of headgasketitis.. time to pull the head if it got hot. thats the first thing i do if i have to work on an engine w/ an aluminum head that got really hot. it doesnt take much to make it blow. how hot is hot? and how long did you drive it while it was really hot?

[Infinitrium]

How hot? Well, IIRC, my little Sunpro temp gauge did show 230 F one time. Of course I didn't drive it very long running that hot. The day I had the major trouble I would only drive it about 10-15 miles at a time, then it would overheat and lose heat from the heater then I stopped on the roadside, let it cool for a few minutes, topped off the water level then set off for another 10-15 miles then repeated the process. The very last time I drove it before I parked it, it would run with seemingly normal operating temps for about 5-10 minutes then I would see the gauge shoot up past 210. That does sound like a HG failure eh? I haven't had the head off, but I am willing to bet it's warped by now. Back before I parked the car I was considering just having the head replaced, but then I figured I'd need a new timing belt and a bunch of gaskets. Then, once that was all assembled, I'd need someone to set the IP timing. That would still leave me with a funny sounding turbo. I figure getting all that done would cost more than just getting a used replacement motor.

[Smokey Eddy]

Interesting..... :roll:

I have had extensive experience with this before

Well, so long as you have water (coolant) circulating there is no mechanical problem (i can think of?) that would cause excessive over heating... other than... maybe driving with absolutely no oil in which case how would you be driving in the first place? i dunno...


If the Thermostat WORKS (do check it on the stove in a pot of boiling water and a thermometer) and the water pump is pumping water... it will never over heat UNLESS you're loosing coolant OR it isn't staying pressurized.

SO!

take the little cap of the tub you pour the water into... and look inside the lid... there should be a rubber ring in there. make sure it has not been pushed INSIDE the cap further than it's meant to. thats the pressure relief system VW came up with to prevent you from exploding hoses.

If its all sealed, water pumping, holds pressure, T-stat is opening, fan turns on... there is no reason for it not to work.

My problem was the head was pushing pressure through cracks between the valves into the coolant passages over pressurizing everything and DUMPING the coolant out of the fill tank. (its called the expansion tank technically)

ALSO... running the car like that has the side effect of gradually thinning the coolant over time and straight water will boil, turn to steam, NOT cool the engine AT ALL and blow through that cap.

It's tedious i know, but the only way you can do a leak down on what's happening is by using proper 50/50 coolant to water.

Here is what i'd do to save your self unnecessary trouble...

check that the rubber ring is where it's supposed to be
drain the coolant/water and test that T-stat to MAKE SURE it works... they can come faulty from the factory
the pump should be fairly trust worthy... but if the block gets hot and the rad does not WITH an opening T-stat, that is a good indication that the water pump isn't pumping...
after all that! Button it back together, fill with 50/50 coolant/water and drive around.

It will take a while for the temp light to stop blinking as you'll need to run all the air pockets out of the block & head from draining the fluid and you WILL need to top it up at least a 2 or 3 times.



I'm crossing my cut up, oily fingers for you bro. There is nothing more frustrating than having a working engine that doesn't cool rendering it totally flipping useless.

PS. if you're savy with this kind of stuff i'd do a HG change too. Very good worth the money maintenance job.

[clbanman]

Engine overheating when rad is not getting hot is not due to a headgasket.  It may result in damage to the head gasket.  Your thermostat may not have been opening, or your pump was not pushing water.  I've had both happen.  The only thermostat I could find that worked properly was the VW factory one.   If your belt to the water pump is slipping and you aren't getting flow this will happen.  If your impeller is not spinning internally this can happen.  If your engine is overheating but you are not getting heat at the heater, your coolant is either mostly gone already, or your coolant is not flowing.  The heater should get flow even if the thermostat is closed, so if you don't have heat there is a flow issue.  Did you have heat from the heater that you gradually lost after the engine was getting hot or did it stop before you saw the extreme temperatures.  If the latter, you need to look at your water pump.

[burn_your_money]

Or the rad is clogged. Pull it off and do a reverse flush on it.

I drove a rabbit under the exact conditions you are talking about and it took about a month to blow the headgasket, warp the head and mess up the cylinders.    :oops:  :lol:

[Rabbit on Roids]

thats what i was about to say, about the radiator.. my buddies nissan did the same thing, but we did a little more than blow a HG. his radiator was clogged, and the top of it would get hot, and boil, but the bottom would stay cold, like... COLD. not even a little heat from water. stick the garden hose in where the top hose goes, then turn it on and watch all the pretty gunk come rushing out the bottom hose  

[Infinitrium]

The water pump and thermostat were new, they cost me 75 bucks from a well known VW repair shop in town. I swapped the radiator that was in the car with a spare I had, that didn't seem to make any difference. I never thought to check the belt. I had previously flushed the cooling system when I had the other radiator in, so I don't think the cooling system would  plugged up.

[Rabbit on Roids]

something is plugged, or clogged, or not spinning. cause vw cooling systems are PAINFULLY simple.. if the water pump, t-stat, and radiator all work as they should, then it should be cooling. maybe you have a vapor lock somewhere?

[Infinitrium]

I was thinking that if the head is cracked and leaking combustion pressure into the cooling system, that could cause water not to circulate

[Rabbit on Roids]

my 4runner has a blown head gasket, and it leaks exhaust into the coolant, and it still cools just fine. so far ive got about 32000 miles on the head gaskets the way they are. it hasnt gotten bad enough not to drive it, and it goes through about a quart of water a month. i really doubt the coolant is gonna quit circulating from having exhaust in the coolant, cause for it to quit circulating, the pump has to be cavitating, not have the t-stat open, or not have the pump spinning.

[Infinitrium]

I don't know what to think. I know coolant (water) circulates through the cooling system because it would throw heat from the heater, but as soon as I would see the temp gauge quickly rise up the heater would start blowing cold. This is a puzzling one...