VW_OwneR_85

what does it say on the back of the bottle, if its suitable it should say something like -- conforms to vw/audi specification 182038383 {thats made up numbers btw for example} , being blue you ideally would need fully drain it, probably would be alrite but i wouldnt use it . i use stuff made by "comma" called G something extreme which is red and meets vw/audi specification...

idd just leave it , plenty of engines get drained for removal and get sat for months to be sold off or engines that get worked on for months aswell, its obviously not as good just leaving the coolant thats already in it in it if it can be helped.... i was told years ago that in a sealed system {house plumbing} the water will only attack the metals once { i.e your boiler} , so if you keep introducing fresh water to it then the metals that can rust will rust, we all know that coolant helps inhibit corrosion but does it totally stop that first attack? probably not, just my thoughts on that..

yea dont drop any fluids, i would put a light dust sheet over it, {the really thin plastic ones} , maybe do something for moisture? i know you can buy them bags of silica gel for that...

no worries, thats the page i saw, although in my experiance once you reconnect the battery it still drives and behaves ok/acceptable but obviously wont be 100%, iv never bothered with that procedure, just driven it and its been fine:)

no worries, the hissing has to be air still escaping from the system , in other words your putting the cap back on to early, normally fill it up and squash all the rubber hoses by hand, so your kinda hand pumping the air out , carry on doing this untill the coolant level doesnt drop anymore and no more bubbles appear in the header tank , then fire up the engine to let the pump circulate for a few minutes {with the header tank cap still off} and hopefully forces more air out, make sure your heaters are set to hot aswell, as this opens up the valve that allows coolant to flow through the heater rad in the dash, if you dont then there will still be air in that section of the system... your need to go faster then 5mph to re learn ecu , there is a guide of the parameters that need to be achieved in order for the re learn, google search it , i have seen it before, normal driving speeds will sort that though..

had a friend that had a wierd running problem in his mk2 vr , turned out the crank sensor on the front of the engine was loose , maybe waters got into the sensor from when the hose blew off, i know it should all be water tight but wire casing might be split/cracked??? , im guesing your motor was fine before the hose blew off???

your oil leaks good/fresh, when oil mixes with water it turns to creamy mayonaise like stuff... you can sometimes see this around/under the oil filler cap on cars that get used for short journeys as the oil mixes with condensation and the engine doesnt run long enough for it to natrually burn off the moisture so it collects and builds up, hissing from the tank with the cap off? or only when you first undo the cap? if its when you undo the cap then this is normal as the cooling system is under slight pressure, has the battery been disconnected at all? if it has then it needs to be driven for the ecu to re learn stuff, {so might not be behaving 100%} make sure the coolant system is bled of all the air and drive it and keep checking the coolant level and top up for the next few days as it may change, after that it shouldnt drop at all and if it does then you can look further in to where its going ....

haha gutted...

yea i know where your comming from but theres a chance it will be totally ok, have a nose through this http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3165692

with it running fine your bonkers to even be considering an engine rebuild , personally for me i would go r32 if i had the spare available funds , keep the original engine though {so it could go back} ,

does look good, i did mine and the sun roof panel in faux black leather, sprayed the visors satin black , dyed the sunroof seal black , came out pretty damn good..

if you have access to an air compressor even a small 25L, buy a small sand blasting gun {£25} and cover the engine and car , it makes jobs like this an absolute breeze especially in hard to reach corners, then expoy prime bare metal., if the rust isnt 100% removed then you have only brought yourself time before it grows again, rust treatments/convertors are crap and not worth the risk of paint bubbling up in the future... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Spot-Sand-Blasting-Kit-Air-Compressor-Remove-Rust-Paint-Dirt-Nozzles-90-PSI-/131422454717?hash=item1e996383bd:g:nhcAAOSwPhdU1I8- use etch primer if you want but epoxy primer is far better here, its water proof!! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPRAYMAX-2K-EPOXY-PRIMER-FILLER-BEIGE-400ML-AEROSOL-SPRAY-2680032-/261565453345?hash=item3ce6841421:g:LHEAAOxyLN9Sh5Eu

i'dd get hold of another second hand direct replacement , do the bare minimum to it {maybe do the clutch} , you could have it back on the roads over a weekend for well under £400 , done, enjoy it!, otherwise mk4 1.8T swap , loads of them about ...

seeing as you got nothing to loose idd pull the seal out and investigate further, thinking about it ,if theres paint damage which travels into the channel then in theory windscreen guys are to blame for not sealing it, if the paint isn't damaged then its more then likely rust that got painted over, if you have any further paint work done in the future and for anyone else getting paint done I would recommend using 2k epoxy primer first or get your bodyshop to use it! a lot of uk bodyshops don't know about it, they just stick to etch primer for bare metal priming as its what they know, epoxy primer is the only primer that's water proof , meaning if your top coat gets scratched then the coat of epoxy will keep the moisture off the metal, epoxy primer Is also hard as xxxx!! its worth checking out...

bubbling does sound like rust im sorry to say, it wont be letting in water as the seal that's made is directly beneath the outside edge of the screen, exactly the same thing happened to me because I didn't fully remove the rust :( absolutely gutted!! , its hard to say whos at fault here , it might of been rust that was already there and wasn't fully removed in the prep stages of your respray, idd speak to the bodyshop that done the respray and see if they can sort something out..