Easy one - header tanks? ... opinions please!

[LisaK 0]

Following my disasterous head gasket failure last year, my header tank has turned a nasty shade of brown!! I want to put my Samco coolant hoses on soon so thought it'd be the perfect time to change the header tank at the same time. Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with the GSF or ECP header tanks? Any other places that do relatively good quality ones? If I can get away with a cheaper one thats just as good as the VW one then I'd rather not give more money away than I have to, especially to the stealers!

 

Thanks :D

[Riley 0]

Ive used gsf and genuine ones in the past...no difference. 8)

 

Its a good idea to run some coolant flush with water first though, as its the crap in the water ways that will make your new tank cruddy. Its available from most accessory places (top gear etc) its made by holts i think, just remember not to leave it in there though...could do some damage.

 

Neil.

[20vturbo 0]

the genuine ones arent too expensive, personally i like to keep as much stuff as possible on my car genuine

[LisaK 0]

Around £30 odd I've been told?? GSF ones are £9 + VAT...

 

Ive used gsf and genuine ones in the past...no difference. 8)

 

Its a good idea to run some coolant flush with water first though, as its the crap in the water ways that will make your new tank cruddy. Its available from most accessory places (top gear etc) its made by holts i think, just remember not to leave it in there though...could do some damage.

 

Neil.

A whole bottle of coolant flush was used after the HG was fixed :lol: I've had to change a couple of the coolant hoses since and the water seems pretty clean, it's just the stained header tank that makes the water look mostly cruddy.

[Chris 0]

Around £30 odd I've been told?? GSF ones are £9 + VAT...

 

Ive used gsf and genuine ones in the past...no difference. 8)

 

Its a good idea to run some coolant flush with water first though, as its the crap in the water ways that will make your new tank cruddy. Its available from most accessory places (top gear etc) its made by holts i think, just remember not to leave it in there though...could do some damage.

 

Neil.

A whole bottle of coolant flush was used after the HG was fixed :lol: I've had to change a couple of the coolant hoses since and the water seems pretty clean, it's just the stained header tank that makes the water look mostly cruddy.

 

theres nothing wrong with the gsf one, i used to have one for my 2.0l lump, you wont notice any difference. n yeh vw will ask for about £30+ including vat. the genuine 16v vw expansions are more expensive than the vr ones which i found to be abit strange

[Jim 2]

I had problems with a GSF one and wouldn't get one again. The plug connectors on the header tank LOOKED correct but no amount of force would get it to clip onto the coolant temp sensor. Lots of people tried, all failed. I used it for about 3 months and took it back explaining the problem and the guy got shirty with me saying that because I'd USED it, I couldn't return it. He caved in the end but it was a complete joke.

 

I'm afraid I'm fairly strongly anti-GSF.. most things I get from them seem to fail quite quickly.

[Chris 0]

I had problems with a GSF one and wouldn't get one again. The plug connectors on the header tank LOOKED correct but no amount of force would get it to clip onto the coolant temp sensor. Lots of people tried, all failed. I used it for about 3 months and took it back explaining the problem and the guy got shirty with me saying that because I'd USED it, I couldn't return it. He caved in the end but it was a complete joke.

 

I'm afraid I'm fairly strongly anti-GSF.. most things I get from them seem to fail quite quickly.

 

that sounds like gsf's general customer service :) glad you managed to get a refund! they must have given you a defective/crap tank, i usually try to stay clear of gsf parts but the only thing i got from them which i thought was worth the money was that tank.

 

if you do go for the gsf one lisa keep your receipt and make sure everything is good with it before you start filling it up.

[boost monkey 0]

Yeah, VAG tanks are £30ish, I bought one recently and they're pretty good but then I don't think i've ever had a cheapo one. Depends if you wanna spend the money on it really!

 

I can dig you out the coolant flush part number from VW if you like, it's a 5ltr square bottle. But I guess you could use another brand of stuff if you wanted.

[shawshankkid 1]

Go Genuine on this item.....some G.S.F things are good or ok but not this one. sometimes you just have to have original parts........ we really should do a ok to get and leave alone parts list for G.S.F.

[Jim Bowen 1]

can you not clean the old one and save even more money?

 

i seem to remember people filling them with small pebbles and bleach

[__Andy__ 0]

oh dear, bought one from gsf ages ago and its yet to be fitted to either of my corrado's. was pretty keen to get this on but im slightly put off by what people have said, should i bite the bullet and get a genuine one? :?

 

sorry to hi-jack lisa..

[pete_griff 0]

i recently had the header tank off mine - gave it a good treatment with some caustic soda and it came up pretty well.

 

if you give it a good scub outside and it, they do come up nicely.

admittedly new is obviously good - but if you do a good enough job, you can get your original one pretty close :)

[__Andy__ 0]

i recently had the header tank off mine - gave it a good treatment with some caustic soda and it came up pretty well.

 

if you give it a good scub outside and it, they do come up nicely.

admittedly new is obviously good - but if you do a good enough job, you can get your original one pretty close :)

 

where can i get caustic soda from? io take it id then have to flush the header tank through again once ive cleaned it..

[LisaK 0]

Thanks for the input, chaps :)

 

can you not clean the old one and save even more money?

 

i seem to remember people filling them with small pebbles and bleach

I guess I could clean the old tank but I think its too badly stained and I know I woudn't be happy with "kind of" clean as opposed to brand new.

 

 

oh dear, bought one from gsf ages ago and its yet to be fitted to either of my corrado's. was pretty keen to get this on but im slightly put off by what people have said, should i bite the bullet and get a genuine one? :?

 

sorry to hi-jack lisa..

No worries, saves making another thread on what is essentially the same subject :)

[Walesy 0]

I seem to remember reading that Mk4 ones are the ones to go for, if you want to know why try the search :lol:

[LisaK 0]

I seem to remember reading that Mk4 ones are the ones to go for, if you want to know why try the search :lol:

Just tried searching under:

"mk4 tank" - nothing

"golf tank" - nothing

"golf expansion" - nothing

"mk4 expansion" - nothing

"mk4 header" - nothing

"golf header" - nothing

 

 

Sure it was this forum, Walesy? :tongue:

[boost monkey 0]

:lol: the search button is god!!! :D

 

the plastic itself on my old one had discoloured to a nasty diarrhoea shade, which will never be white again.

 

I tried cleaning mine out too, but with all the narrow pathways and valves(?) inside, it's very hard to do a good job unless you soak if for hours, imo.

 

If you want to keep the spherical header tank, I know of a couple of racing Lambos who use near as damnit the same one :wink:

[shawshankkid 1]

The search is terrible since the new forum changes, it gives you one post from this year then everything is from 2004 ! every time.

[Jim 2]

It's not terrible - you just have to know how to use it (which it will do if you click Advanced Search) - string search terms together with '+' signs at the start of each word and you'll get a lot more appropriate hits...

 

e.g. +header +tank

 

I will confess that I couldn't find anything about MK4 expansion tanks though :)

[Toad 0]

I think Wendy has a MK4 header tank on her vr....

[Wullie 1]

Just a word of warning if you use caustic soda. It's nasty stuff and will clean the skin off your hands if you're not carfull. Rubber gloves and read the instructions type stuff

[LisaK 0]

What are the benefits of a Mk4 header tank compared to a Corrado one and is it a straight swap?

 

It's not terrible - you just have to know how to use it (which it will do if you click Advanced Search) - string search terms together with '+' signs at the start of each word and you'll get a lot more appropriate hits...

 

e.g. +header +tank

 

I will confess that I couldn't find anything about MK4 expansion tanks though :)

I've just tried that using a completely different string of words with the "+" at the start of every word and the same number of results comes up as if I didn't add the "+" :lol:

[shawshankkid 1]

Yeah it's pants. i've been on here four years i know how to use it jim.

[davidwort 0]

you'll need to splice a mk4 connector on if you want to use a mk4 tank, but they can be sourced more cheaply and from the original manufacturer I think.

[colinstubbs 0]

I got a Topran pattern tank from a local vw parts place and a pattern cap and it all works fine, plug fitted and it was much cheaper.