Crack pipe burst - VR6!

[aclwalker 3]

My crack pipe has finally given up and I have just witnessed it spilling the contents of my cooling system on to the road.

 

I've read all the threads about the metal replacements but I think I'll just replace it with the OEM plastic one, since it lasted a long time anyway, provided the cost is reasonable. Does anyone know how much it is from VW? Is it cheaper from Ford?

 

The good news is that I've had a full thermostat housing and thermostat waiting to be fitted for ages, so now's my chance.

 

The bad news is that I don't have a garage or driveway and I can't drive it over to my parents' like I usually do for repairs, so I'm going to have to do the repair at the roadside.

 

I park the car in a dead end street, which is obviously very quiet, with houses only on one side of the road, so I should be free to work on it safely but is this possible to do at the roadside or should I get it towed to my parents? It's a good 15 miles away and it's a heavy VR6.

 

I've read that you really need to take the front end away (radiator, grille, etc), but somebody also said you can get away with just disconnecting the front mount, loosening the rear mounts and jacking the engine up.

 

I also suspect that removal of the top part of the inlet manifold (this is quite straightforward and I've done it before) would also help for access.

 

What do you all think? I'm a confident home mechanic and do nearly all of the work on the car myself anyway. I'm just a wee bit worried about being out of the comfort zone of my dad's driveway with his 80 years plus of bought and inherited tools.

 

Also, what's the consensus (if there is one) on fitting the cooler (70C?) thermostat as against the standard (80C?), bearing in mind that I'm in cold Glasgow?

[vwstorm 0]

do it round your dads

 

if u have to take the rad out then its front end off or manifold i think

 

when i done my rad it was whole fornt end

 

i would have thought it would be easy

 

i've done a thermostat that was trickey

 

good luck

[MK1Campaign 0]

Manifold doesnt have to come off but the front of the car does. I replaced mine with a Gruvenparts alloy version http://gruvenparts.com/website/cart/car ... gory_id=60

[craigowl 0]

You do take bumper and front of car off but you DO NOT need to take manifold off.

I did all this in October last year at age of 62. It was a big job for me but younger person will find it not so bad.

I think original VW crack pipe is not dear at around £12 IIRC.

Do it in your cul de sac - no need to trail it miles across town IMO.

[marcus 0]

My Crack pipe burst at xmas time. only thing that needed taking off was the old crack pipe. Very tight and tricky though.

[aclwalker 3]

You do take bumper and front of car off but you DO NOT need to take manifold off.

I did all this in October last year at age of 62. It was a big job for me but younger person will find it not so bad.

I think original VW crack pipe is not dear at around £12 IIRC.

Do it in your cul de sac - no need to trail it miles across town IMO.

Thanks for the answers everyone.

 

How easy is it to remove the front bumper and the front bit holding the lights, radiator etc?

Is there a risk that I won't be able to re-attach everything due to corrosion?

 

A year or so ago I replaced the fan cowling and powered fan and that was a nightmare fitting it in WITHOUT taking the front off. Maybe I should have taken it off.

[aclwalker 3]

My Crack pipe burst at xmas time. only thing that needed taking off was the old crack pipe. Very tight and tricky though.

How did you manage this without removing the thermostat housing bit? Or did you just remove that one bit of the housing that attaches to the pipe, while leaving the main bit in situ?

 

I would be delighted if it's possible to do by just removing the whole thermostat housing, removing the oil cooler hose and then sliding out, as these are all the bits I want to replace anyway.

 

The less dismantling on the public road the better.

[Jim Bowen 1]

the front end is pretty easy to get on and off, its just a case of finding all the screws for the slam panel, it all goes back together really well too.

[MK1Campaign 0]

Theres two small rubber hoses around the crack pipe area that were completely perished on mine. I cant quite remember what they were for but its worth getting them.

[craigowl 0]

Theres two small rubber hoses around the crack pipe area that were completely perished on mine. I cant quite remember what they were for but its worth getting them.

 

Probably those little curved ones to oil cooler. I replaced them, too, as they are known to fail and do not cost much.

May be these nos, but check.

021 112 1058A

021 121 096

both called "water hose" £6.14 plus VAT each.

 

Use "search" and you will find loads about removing bumper/slam panel and lights.

I found enough to do it OK myself.

[aclwalker 3]

Well, I started the job today and have hit a few problems. There's quite a lot of corrosion around and unfortunately, one of my 4 17mm hex bumper bolts sheared off. Also, one of the bolts for the radiator hanger things sheared off too, but that's an easier problem; just a new bolt and spacer piece.

 

I managed to get the bumper out by pushing hard underneath on the remaining piece of bolt with a screw driver, while pulling the bumper out. I then used lots of penetrating oil and Irwin bolt grips (quite literally the best set of tools ever invented, buy them now, BEFORE you need them!), but the bolt sheared off AGAIN, so I have a little stump of hardened steel bolt remaining, which I've managed to flatten with a Dremel and dent with a hole punch, with a view to drilling tomorrow.

 

Anyone got any general tips on drilling out bolts?

 

I suppose that if the worst comes to the worst, I can always buy a replacement bumper bracket. I'm guessing it would be a bad idea to simply ignore the problem and only use one bolt on that side for the bumper, given that it seems to provide support for the engine front mount, via the cross member thing?

 

Anyone got any other suggestions?

 

As for what was causing the leak in the first place; it was the rubber hose from the engine block to the oil cooler and not the crack pipe itself. There was a 2-3mm tear in the back of it, which has probably been leaking a bit for a while, judging from the corrosion on the front of the block.

 

The crack pipe crumbled at both ends when I removed it. It is stamped "93" and my car is a "94" so is this a record for a crack pipe? 14 years and 201,000 miles and it still didn't burst! If I'd been able to leave it in, who knows how long it would have lasted!

 

My thermostat housing pieces seem to be stamped with "01" as the manufacturing date. I bought the car in 2002, so this car must have had a new thermostat and housing not long before I got it. And I'm doing it again, roughly the same time after it was done the first time (but far less mileage. 1st 7/8 years was 170,000 miles. I've done 30,000 in 6 years.).

 

The housing is actually in very good condition, with no cracks or damage. The bolts were obviously corroded to hell (Irwin bolt grips to the rescue), but all plastic and seals (except for the crack pipe as already mentioned) are in good condition.

 

I had bought a whole new set of pieces anyway, so I'm fitting my new ones. Might keep the old bits as spares, or sell them on to recover some of this cost! Not got a job at the moment!

 

So, I'm at the point now where I have the car in 1 million bits with no cooling system installed and a bumper with a bolt to be drilled out. The corrosion on the block needs to be cleaned off where the crack pipe goes and I need to clean off the mating surface for the thermostat housing (which looks very clean and smooth, I'm pleased to see).

 

I have developed a cold over the last 30 minutes, have forgotten my digital camera to take more photos of my car in lots of bits to freak out my pals and have left both drills at my house, 15 miles away from my parents where I'm currently staying the night. And I need to go to the stealer tomorrow to order replacement bolts and things.

 

If I feel like shit tomorrow then I might just go to Verve, order the bits and go to bed in my house, then wake up three days later, collect the parts, remember the drills and camera and re-assemble.

 

All good fun though. I must be mellowing out in my old age though, as even though this bolt situation is a total PITA, I'm actually surprisingly not bothered about it, even though I don't see me solving the problem right now! Maybe the post-redundancy lack of stress is good for me.

 

Anyway, enough of a ramble. Any tips, encouragement or whatever welcome. It's certainly an 'interesting' car to own!

[craigowl 0]

That's tough about the bolts shearing - never mind it happens to everyone. When I changed the water pump, one of the engine mount bolts sheared on retightening. Apparently they are "one use only" and new one should be used anyway.

Had to get local garage to replace mount and bolt - >£100. :gag:

 

Remember when tightening up the allan bolts on the thermostat housing that the torque is mostly 7ft lbs - quite low - so dont overtighten as the plastic will crack! I had to buy a new torque wrench at £35 as the one I had did not go down to 7.

All good fun. :brickwall:

 

best of luck.

[aclwalker 3]

OK, it's monsoon season in Glasgow today (with big sparks in the sky and rumbling too) so I'll take the time to post up some pictures I've taken during this crack pipe replacement job, and comment along the way. I hope people will find this helpful when they have to do it.

 

First up, here's the bumper bracket with the remains of one of the 4 big bolts (the one on the right of the picture) you need to undo to get the bumper out. These bolts require a breaker bar to shift them and unfortunately one of mine has decided to become a part of the frame, probably at the molecular level. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do to get this out, but I've got a tap and die set, so hopefully that can get the remaining bits out once I file them down enough:stromlaufplan_gamma4.pdfP6050051.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd]

 

OK, the next two pictures show the common damage with a crack pipe. Firstly, the ends crumble away. Secondly the branch pipe that goes to the oil cooler snaps off. On mine this only snapped off while I was trying to remove the crack pipe, but other people have it coming off on its own. Mine may have been leaking there, but the real leak in mine was one of the oil cooler pipes, which I totally advise replacing at the same time. There's two of them and they're £6.50ish each. You may want to get new clips too as I snapped one of them trying to remove it. You'll note the seals are missing. The first picture is the engine end and the seal was stuck in the block part. The other end I think I removed myself. My crack pipe was original (manufactured in 1993, but my thermostat housing bits and radiator seem to date from 2001, so I reckon I've had work on my cooling system the year before I got the car.Corrado92.pdfP6050053.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd]passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfP6050054.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd]

 

The next two pictures show where the bolts for the bumper go. The first is from underneath, at the passenger side. The second is the channel where the bumper bracket in the first picture slides in. Note that on mine, the two bolts nearest the bumper were in good condition and came out OK. The two nearest the back of the car were much more badly corroded and one of these snapped. Take care with the back bolts.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6050064.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd]2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6050065.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd]

 

Next, this is what your car looks like when you've got the bumper, slam panel and radiator out. Not pretty! Note the very rusty block behind the dipstick holder. This is where the leak was and may well have been contributing to the rust. Also note the oily part on the right. This oil appears to be coming from the rocker cover gasket, so I'll need to do that at some point. You can also see some general corrosion on the subframe bit, which I've now painted with some hammerite.P6050059.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd]

 

Continued in next post...

[aclwalker 3]

OK, the next two pictures show the engine with crack pipe and thermostat housing removed. The corrosion in the block where the crack pipe goes is really quite horrendous and it requires lots of cleaning up with emery paper or Dremels (taking great care not to remove too much material). I'm not sure how successful I've been because I got interrupted with the monsoon, but you need to check here carefully for leaks after doing the job. The mating surface where the thermostat housing goes was very good on mine. I cleaned up with brake cleaner and emery paper.Corrado92.pdfP6050060.JPG[/attachment:3pqazv2t]passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfP6050066.JPG[/attachment:3pqazv2t]

 

The next two pictures show the new thermostat housing assembled and also a mock up of how it goes with the crack pipe. Note the thermostat inside the lower part. Note how I've positioned it such that the metal pieces going to the apex of the thermostat are not restricting the flow of coolant through the crack pipe piece (you'll know what I mean when you see the thermostat). My old thermostat was positioned such that the flow was restricted by this piece which is probably not a good idea. Note the sensors assembled in their original order (or at least the original order in MY car!). In the second picture you'll see a jubilee clip on the oil cooler hose but I decided to just get a new clip to replace the one I snapped from the dealer since I was going there for bolts anyway.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6050069.JPG[/attachment:3pqazv2t]2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6050073.JPG[/attachment:3pqazv2t]

 

Next is a still life of Corrado parts. Bottom left is the snapped bumper bolt next to an intact one. Bottom right is a snapped bolt inside the radiator spacing piece. This piece is almost £10 from the dealer!!! If you have the time, drill it out and tap a new thread in. Unbelievably the bolt was "on back order". There was not a single bolt for this in the whole of the UK. I declined to wait and bought an M6 bolt from Halfords to use with my replacement spacer piece. The original is 15mm long and the Halfords replacement is 20mm. If need be I can cut 5mm off it but I don't think it will be necessary. Top middle are two plastic clips that fit on the crack pipe and are used (I think!) to hold the alternator wire up, but it doesn't quite fit on mine as you'll see in later photos. Note the inclusion of daisies to finish off the piece. This photo should be in the Tate Modern really.P6050074.JPG[/attachment:3pqazv2t]

 

Continued in next post...

[aclwalker 3]

Next is a photo with everything re-assembled, but still missing the radiator. This is the point I was at when the monsoon started, so it's still in this state. To get the new crack pipe in was really tough. In the end I resorted to tapping it in with gentle force with a block of wood and a hammer. It actually goes in quite far and is actually very tight when it's in. I just wonder if I've tapped it in too far. I'll explain further with the next photo. Note that the pipe isn't horizontal (it's not meant to be). Note the careful positioning of the two oil cooler hoses. I think mine were under stress as they were very much more crushed up against the previous crack pipe. One had actually partially melted where it touched the crack pipe. Note the clips holding the alternator wire. I've had to remove the left one out of its alignment pin on the crack pipe (that's what those pins are for) to get it to sit nicely with the wire.passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfP6050080.JPG[/attachment:r69o117z]

 

OK, here's a close-up of the right side of the crack pipe seated inside the thermostat housing piece. Have I tapped the crack pipe too far into the block? I'm slightly concerned that the alignment notch isn't hard up against the thermostat housing piece as it could be, but everything else is aligned correctly. I think it's still sealed inside OK and am hoping that this is deliberately designed to allow some variation. The thermostat piece is a smooth uniform channel inside, which is perhaps deliberately made like this to allow for slight variations. Only testing will tell.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6050081.JPG[/attachment:r69o117z]

 

Here's a close-up of the engine block end of the crack pipe. Is this too far in the block? Is that even possible?2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6050082.JPG[/attachment:r69o117z]

 

Lastly, here's a close-up of the two £6.50ish rubber hoses that you'd be mad not to replace at the same time. I re-used 3 clips and bought a new one to replace one I snapped. Take care and time to position these hoses to minimise stress and to try to keep them away from the crack pipe. Note that the two oil cooler ends are of larger diameter than the crack pipe and block ends of the pipes. Take care to put the right pipe in the right place. They are shaped for their positions. Take care to position the spring clips for easy access later, a point neglected by many.P6050083.JPG[/attachment:r69o117z]

 

OK, that's all the photos for now. Hope this is useful for others. It's not a tough job (assuming you get the bumper bolts out OK), it's just a bit time-consuming.

[aclwalker 3]

One last photo. Here's the Irwin bolt grip set which I bought from Machine Mart.

 

I bought the base set which consists of one of the rows of 5 (can't remember which) and the plastic case and also the extension pack which added the other row of 5 to fill in gaps in the sizes. I think the total cost was around £45, but you can buy them possibly about £10 cheaper on Ebay, if you buy them together. I needed them quickly, however, so paid the dearer price from Machine Mart for the convenience of getting them that day.

 

These are fantastic tools for removing nuts and bolts whose heads have rounded off or otherwise damaged. Unfortunately they grip so well that it is possible to shear bolts off if they are so corroded that they won't shift, but then nothing will shift them in that case, except maybe tons of heat, but you can't always get access for that.

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

good write up! should go in the wiki...if there is not one there already......off to look

[Jim Bowen 1]

good pics, i did the same job not long ago but didn't replace the oil cooler hoses, even though i did all the rest, thinking back, maybe i should of.

 

can they be done you reckon withot taking car apart? i forgot to check this....

 

my block looked the same as yours, rusty and oily in the same places.

 

how many miles has your corrado done and what year is it?

[craigowl 0]

"You do take bumper and front of car off but you DO NOT need to take manifold off.

I did all this in October last year..............."

 

Update. Last week, due to a slight intermittent drip at the point where the new crack pipe goes into the engine block, I managed with considerable difficulty and time to remove and reinstall the crack pipe without removing the bumper and slam panel, etc. Having slender chimp-like arms helps. :lol:

 

aclwalker - make sure the crack pipe/engine block joint is sound before reassembling whole car.

I recommend using a sealant like the copperbased Loctite 5920. I got it in Halfords - £5.99 - after emailing Henkel/Loctite to ask which of their countless sealants would be best. Leave it to cure overnight.

 

In October, without sealant, I had to hammer crack pipe in with block of wood, too, and on removal last week found that the new O ring had 2 little nicks in it, hence causing the leak. The hole in the engine block has a stepped ridge inside so I suspect you cannot force pipe in too far. The sealant acts a bit like butter, so you will feel when you are in correctly if you use it. :norty:

 

Anyway, there is not a drop below the car now and it has been on a couple of fast runs, too.

Many people would have ignored the small leak, but these things niggle me and I had to put it right. Fingers crossed it remains fixed as after the initial installation last year, the leak did not manifest itself until car had been used several times.

 

3corsameal said:

can they be done you reckon withot taking car apart? i forgot to check this....

 

I thought I read on a USA or Canadian forum that you could, if working on the car from underneath, but it was an absolute pig of a job. When I reinstalled crack pipe last week, fitting and tightening the oil cooler hose on the tube coming out of crack pipe took longest of all - it would just not stay on and kept sliding off. Choice is yours!

[aclwalker 3]

Well, here's the final update on this saga. My cable modem died on Friday so I've just got a new one today having no Internet all weekend.

 

I finished the job on Friday but not without a setback. I had re-assembled everything and started filling it up with coolant when I noticed a leak, right where the crack pipe enters the block. It was leaking without even any pressure, so I had to totally dismantle everything again, taking the bumper and slam panel back off again. I had hesitated to fully re-assemble it before checking for leaks but since you need to attach the radiator again, I just decided to fully assemble it all.

 

I got it fixed eventually, but more on that later. Also, the other good news is that I managed to get out the remaining bit of bolt, with some precision drilling.

 

So, here's the details with more pictures.

 

Firstly, on reassembly of the car, it occurred to me that something wasn't quite right with my radiator. I suspected mine wasn't quite right with the height, with the bumper being too close to the slam panel bit and the radiator seemed too tightly attached, if you know what I mean. I noticed that the radiator had little pegs which slot into holes in the cross member and I guessed that these were supposed to have rubber spacers in them. So I checked ETKA and sure enough, there are rubber feet and mine were missing.

 

These are actually quite important as they keep the radiator and cowling up off the cross member. Mine was resting on this and has encouraged quite a bit of corrosion there (which I have now hammerited). I also suspected that these rubber feet might be the same as those on the air box, and so checked ETKA. Sure enough they are the same part number, so I just took them off the air box and put them on the radiator. I can get new ones for the air box any time and it's much easier to get at. I always had one of the three missing on the air box anyway.

 

Here's a photo of the radiator pegs and the air box with rubber spacers which I moved onto the radiator. It now sits at the correct height.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6060084.JPG[/attachment:32wggt5f]

 

The next photo shows the radiator in place, with plastic air guides attached. Note the radiator hangers on top of the block of wood. These hangers don't actually hold the radiator up (the rubber spacers do). They appear to be to stop horizontal motion back and forth. Mine were cranked up incredibly tight and had appeared to pull the slam panel down as they gripped the radiator really well due to the corrosion on them.

 

The longer hanger goes on the left (from the perspective of this picture) and the shorter one goes on the right. There's a bit of confusion as to which way round they should be though. ETKA shows both of them with the down bit at the back of the car whereas Bentley shows them with the longer one having the down bit at the front and the shorter one having the down bit to the back. Bentley appeared correct according to the way mine was, and it seems to make more sense as there is a slot for the longer one. Regardless, I had to push the radiator a bit at the left to get it to line up, but I guess it might be slightly warped due to the incorrect way it was fitted in the past without feet and being too tight etc. I think ETKA is wrong here.

 

Here's the photo.2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6060087.JPG[/attachment:32wggt5f]

 

Now here it is with the slam panel attached and the radiator on. Look carefully and you'll see how the hangers go. There are 14 hex head screws with washers that hold on the slam panel. I've arrowed all 14 of them in this photo. Before you attach the slam panel, it's a good idea to grease up the bonnet release cable. Also get somebody to pull the lever and hold it in that position as it will expose more metal of the cable for you to grease. I have managed to eliminate my bonnet release noise now.P6060088edited.JPG[/attachment:32wggt5f]

By the way, see the bit between the two lowest arrows? I found a screwdriver in there! It must have fallen down in there when someone was working on it in the past.

Continued in next post...

[aclwalker 3]

OK, having got this far, it's time to put the bumper on, but I still had a bit of bolt stuck in mine. I used some top quality drills and a lot of care and managed to drill it out. It can be useful to use imperial sizes sometimes as you can get sizes between the metric sizes and remove more metal sometimes.

 

The trick is to try to remove as much metal as possible without removing the thread. I got a tap and die set from Halfords to help me out and managed to make an 8mm thread inside the remaining bolt (the size should be 10mm). I thought that by threading an 8mm thread, I might be able to use an 8mm bolt to somehow shift the remaining bit of bolt. This didn't work, and so I had to eventually drill out even more. But luckily, with just a sliver of metal left, the remaining bit came out, like a little helicoil, but this is just the remaining bolt.

 

Here's a photo of the hole where the bolt was stuck, the sliver of bolt that came out after all the drilling, and a bit from my tap and die set. I used the 10mm tap to carefully clean out the thread. The thread was actually undamaged. This was a horrendous bolt to get out but patience and precision drilling got it in the end.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6060091.JPG[/attachment:3195r7xu]

 

The next photo shows the bumper attached. Bentley says that there should be an 8mm gap (vertically) between the bumper and the wing panel (and hence the slam panel bit). My bumper was originally tight up against that. It's now correct, but I'm not sure why it was wrong before. Maybe it was to do with the radiator being on too tight, or maybe the bumper bolts themselves were just far too tight. They should be 85Nm, which is quite tight really. Anyway, my bumper is now sitting correctly. By the way, my wing IS dented. It was like that when I got it.2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6060092edited.JPG[/attachment:3195r7xu]

 

The next photo shows under the car. I know the cross member thing is very rusty. It's a 201,000 mile car! The 5 arrows on the curved metal strap thing need to be removed to get the bumper off. You then need to pull that strap out towards the back of the car. This holds the bumper on to the slam panel. Be careful when removing the strap as you will get a facefull of rust.

 

The large arrows point to where the 2 sets of 2 main 17mm hex bolts are to be found. The small arrow to the left of the right large arrow points to another small screw that holds the bumper on to the serpentine belt guard. This screw, the 5 on the strap and the 4 17mm large bolts are ALL that need to be removed to remove the bumper (on the VR6 at least). Once these are removed, all you need to do is pull the sides of the bumper out and over the wheel arches as you slide the bumper forward. Take care as it will suddenly drop to the ground so use something or somebody to catch it. You can then unplug the wires for the front fog lights (you should have already removed the indicators by prising them carefully towards the outside with a screwdriver and disconnecting them). When refitting the bumper, you'll notice at the side of the car that there are plastic bits with circular bits on them that fit inside a channel in the bumper. Make sure these are aligned properly.P6060093edited.JPG[/attachment:3195r7xu]

 

Continued in next post...

[aclwalker 3]

As I mentioned, having reassembled everything I started filling with coolant and noticed a leak. I had already put 2 litres of neat coolant in and was going to then add 3 litres of water so that I had the 40% strength recommended on the G12+ bottle (I think Bentley refers to G11 which seems to not require as high a concentration. I would go with the G12+ recommendation rather than Bentley), with half the capacity filled, then top up gradually until the level is reached. With brand new clean coolant in and a leak, I didn't want to simply dump this, so I found a piece of domestic drainage pipe, cut it to length, undid the crack pipe drain valve and carefully channeled all the coolant down the drainage pipe into a basin. If you don't do this then it runs straight down the block, pulling all the rust and oil off and contaminating the coolant.

 

Here's a picture of the leak.passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfP6060097.JPG[/attachment:3aj3lhu3]

 

I had to remove the bumper and slam panel again, but this time it took about 10 minutes. I removed the front of the thermostat housing (the bit that the crack pipe goes in to) and the crack pipe and this is what I found.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6060098.JPG[/attachment:3aj3lhu3]

 

See the bits cut out of the seal? That was a brand new seal. The blue stuff is a non-setting gasket sealant made by Comma (I think) and developed by Rolls Royce apparently. I was trying to minimise leaks. It seems I was far too conservative with my cleaning up of the block where the pipe goes in. Once I removed it and carefully felt around, I felt a sharp bit of corrosion which must have done the cutting.

 

So, I scraped away with a chisel and screw driver, and finished it up with a Dremel and emery paper and got it totally smooth. I had thought that there was meant to be a ridge, but there isn't. There is only the big ridge deeper in that is meant to be there but I had a 'rust ridge' which I totally removed.

 

Luckily I had accidentally ordered seals for the crack pipe, not realising that it came with them anyway, so with a perfectly smooth and widened block hole I put the pipe in again and it went in much easier this time and required no tapping with a hammer and block of wood. I guess if you have to tap it in with a hammer then you've not removed enough corrosion.

 

Here's a tip for you. I've seen people suggesting that you should use a bit of oil or grease to get these sorts of things to go together more easily. It's certainly difficult to assemble things with dry seals, but I think oil or grease is a bad idea. It could attack the rubber. With a cooling system though, why not just dip your finger in the coolant and smear that round the rubber seal? The seals are designed to be in contact with the coolant, and it makes them very easy to slide in.

 

With the corrosion all removed and a smear of coolant the crack pipe slid in very easily and on reassembly it never leaked and hasn't leaked since. Don't be scared to remove the rust from the block and give it a proper clean up. Just don't remove any good metal! Here's a slightly fuzzy picture of mine having gone to town on it and got it cleaned right up.2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6060102.JPG[/attachment:3aj3lhu3]

 

Well, that's about it all written up. I eventually got about 9 litres of coolant and water in the car. The capacity is, I believe, 10 litres, but there was probably some left in the block. I didn't bother filling up via the top hose this time. It all went in the expansion tank. I drove home and checked the next day and got another 600ml of mixture in, and it hasn't dropped at all since.

 

The good news is that the temperatures are now very satisfactory. I was getting about 105ish coolant all the time with 110ish in traffic, and >116 oil all the time before this (obviously I was losing coolant). Yesterday was a very hot day here in Glasgow and the coolant stayed at 85 on the motorway, only rising to a tiny bit above 90 in the town (but then dropped again once the fans kicked in). The oil is staying at around 96-98 now at 70mph and in town too. I got the oil to go to around 104/106 when driving with enthusiasm, but it's nowhere near the 120 like it was reaching at times before.

 

I'm very pleased with the temperatures now.

 

All in all, this job wasn't that bad, although I could have done without the sheared bolt, but it all worked out in the end. Access to good tools is important.

 

To illustrate this, here's one final photo of some tools I used during this job. The one on the right is probably 19th century! The rivet is very loose, but this was just perfect for the hose clips. My grandfather left us a lot of tools and it's amazing what we sometimes end up using on this car.P6060099.JPG[/attachment:3aj3lhu3]

[Jim Bowen 1]

i had quite a lot of corrosion too and thought the same about a ridge that was meant to be there but it turned out to be a buildup of corrosion/rust.

 

i took the dremel to it and totally smoothed it out, but thought i'd taken too much off, after that i greased the crack pipe and it slipped in v.easy, i read a description saying it should slide in like a hot knife through butter :lol: which it did and all has been fine.

 

its deffo needs a lot of attacking, took quite a bit with the dremel

[fla 9]

v good writeup acl.

I tried to remove my new alloy crackpipe during te disassembly but it absolutely refused to budge, although it would pivot quite easily in the opening. Any suggestions for getting it out?

[dukest 0]

yeah, excellent detail there, thanks for all the effort writing it up!