MK4 expansion tank upgrade

[Jim Bowen 1]

its hard to believe for me too :lol:

 

VW charge more than that for a keyring :lol:

[Supercharged 2]

9 pounds! that cant be brand new right?? whats that equal to american dollars 15-20 bucks?

 

£7 with trade discount!

 

Although that's actually equivalent to around 130 Billion US dollors I think.

[__Andy__ 0]

spoke to my local stealer and they wanted £10.72 without the cap???!!

[g60Josh 0]

9 pounds! that cant be brand new right?? whats that equal to american dollars 15-20 bucks?

 

£7 with trade discount!

 

Although that's actually equivalent to around 130 Billion US dollors I think.

 

 

:lol:

[Jim 1]

Not any more. The value of the pound to the dollar sucks these days.

[colinstubbs 0]

spoke to my local stealer and they wanted £10.72 without the cap???!!

 

Once again proves the inconsistancy of dealer pricing.

[__Andy__ 0]

its ridiculous, if anyone can get me the number of the dealer the dealer that pianowire used then ill give them a bell...

[Purple Tom 0]

I've just carried out this mod to my 8V and I can confirm that the expansion tank DOES NOT fit on 8V cars (and probably 16V/G60) without modification to either the tank itself or the steel bracket that bolts to the suspension turret. If you choose to modify the tank you will probably need to fabricate a small bracket as the spacing of the lugs on the Mk4 tank is slightly different to that of the original Corrado tanks. If you choose to modify the bracket then you may get away without another bracket as you may be able to run the coarse threaded original bolts in at a slight angle to compensate for the small difference in spacing of the lugs.

 

However everything else is easy, I didn't need a T-piece to adapt the coolant return pipe as mine was plenty long enough, and the coolant feed pipe is the same diameter. The plug was easy to modify, I just dismantled the original plug as Pianowire said, and fitted the connectors into the new plug.

 

Here's the part numbers and full retail prices, which unfortunately I had to pay as I forgot my Club GTi card and there was a new guy behind the counter :( These prices are from TPS in Derby.

 

Expansion Tank - 1JO 121 403B - £9.32 ex VAT - £10.72 full retail

 

Expansion Tank Cap - 1JO 121 321B - £5.83 ex VAT - £6.70 full retail

 

Coolant Level Sender Plug - 1JO 973 202 - £4.08 ex VAT - £4.69 full retail

 

Total Price = £22.11 full retail

 

Hope that helps some of you, I reckon you'd get the whole lot for about £16-17 if you managed to get some discount.

 

Tom

[ZippyVR6 0]

Cheers for the writeup. Looks like I will be doing this over the weekend. Has anyone done it with Samcos fitted? Just wondered if they are alwright to chop, and what might be the best plumbing T-piece for them?

[davidwort 0]

just an observation, when we changed a water hose on wendy's VR we noticed the overspill/pressure relief outlet cover (black plastic arch) fouled the mk4 tank cap, you could see where the cap had been clamped down on the edge of it. You could lift the flap slightly to avoid this, but it looked a bit dodgy, like you could screw the cap down with it trapped and not get it screwed on all the way, probably not a problem with the 'click-shut' cap on the mk4 tank, but worth looking for.

[ZippyVR6 0]

Well it looks like they have changed the design again. No discount but the total price including the level sender (not pictured) was £21.24.

[Emkayvr6 0]

I take it this new design still works the same tho and can still be used in the Rado vr6?

[Dude VR6 0]

Well it looks like they have changed the design again. No discount but the total price including the level sender (not pictured) was £21.24.

 

Nice CHOPPER in the back ground, I had one of those, hours of fun. Sorry if I have diverted fron the thread :notworthy:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I've just carried out this mod to my 8V and I can confirm that the expansion tank DOES NOT fit on 8V cars (and probably 16V/G60) without modification to either the tank itself or the steel bracket that bolts to the suspension turret. If you choose to modify the tank you will probably need to fabricate a small bracket as the spacing of the lugs on the Mk4 tank is slightly different to that of the original Corrado tanks. If you choose to modify the bracket then you may get away without another bracket as you may be able to run the coarse threaded original bolts in at a slight angle to compensate for the small difference in spacing of the lugs.

 

Exactly the same situation with the VR6. All you need to do is trim a little bit off the locating lug on the underside of the tank and it will sit in the bracket just fine. As you say, for the securing screws, just use a couple of coarse threaded M6 screws from B &Q and the slight misalignment is taken up as you screw it down. Iv'e done this 3 times now and it's always been no more than 30 mins work.

 

As for the black cover, you don't use / need it. The MK4 tank has a very different pressure outlet and the original cover won't go over it properly.

[Purple Tom 0]

Just to add to this, I've had my VR6 on the road for a week now and one of the first thing I did was fit a mk4 tank, along with a general cooling system health check. Its as straightforward as Kev says, and all I used to alter the plumbing was an 8mm I.D inline connector and roughly 14" of 8mm silicone hose, only because I had it lying around after doing the Vauxhall conversion on my Mini.

 

It really brightens up the engine bay and makes it much easier to keep an eye on the coolant level than with the original tank, and fitting the plug is a 5 minute job including removing the pins from the old one...

 

Here's a couple of pictures, the fan control module doesn't get in the way at all:

 

 

 

A very very worthwhile modification, and so cheap for a change :lol:

[ozowen 2]

Thanks for this link; even with my lack of mechanical know how this sounds as if I could get my hands dirty. Will use the original C as a guinee pig first :) .

[8vMatt 1]

Well guys, just ordered the parts needed for this mod. The parts man showed the prices are slightly higher than listed in this thread but he gave me 10% off because I asked for discount. So they came in a few pennies over £20. Will let you know how I get on with it.

[8vMatt 1]

I've now carried out this mod today and wow, so easy even for a novice like me. Didn't need the plumbing fittings as the pipe had enough slack in it to reach.

 

A quick cut of the locator under the tank and i drilled the holes in a bit to use the original fixings.

 

Taking the connector pins out took 5 mins to put into the mk4 block.

 

All I can say is thanks very much mate. Thumbs up!

[mort1414 0]

just done this mod really easy to do but cant get the connecter pins out for my life any tips or can i just get new ones from vw

 

cheers mort

[malk 0]

EDIT: Ignore me, I'm a tit!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

just done this mod really easy to do but cant get the connecter pins out for my life any tips or can i just get new ones from vw

 

cheers mort

 

[Dude VR6 0]

just done this mod really easy to do but cant get the connecter pins out for my life any tips or can i just get new ones from vw

 

cheers mort

 

 

 

Where did you get those terminal tools from ? I could do with a set.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Terminals, terminal housings and the tools, rubber seals etc all on this site mate - http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... gterms.php

 

I basically built an entire loom from scratch for my standalone using wire and pins etc from that place, all top stuff :salute:

 

Useful for repairing broken looms in original wiring too.

[simonsxi 0]

hey dudes if you have a unhelpful vw stealer try a seat dealer parts same as early leon upto 55 reg . :salute:

[Kempy 0]

do I need to buy the level plug?