VR6 Waterleak

[awright182 0]

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Hi,

 

Problems this morning. I've noticed a small amount of fluid under the car over the last week or so. I cleaned the bottom half of the engine last night and went for a ride. Hoped I'd be able to see what was happening this morning.

 

Well, this morning I've got a wet patch about 40 cm across under the car. Water level is down significantly and while I had the top of the header tank I could see that the water was dripping from somewhere below the distributor.

 

There aren't any ancills below the distributor are there? Does that mean it's a blown head gasket?

 

Any ideas guys?

 

I suppose at this point I might as well ask if anyone has a garage recommendation in the Soth Manchester/ North Cheshire area

 

Thanks for any help

 

Andy

[fla 9]

it will likely be the thermostat housing. What may appear to be a minor crck can expand when the coolant warms up resulting in a lot of coolant loss. Check the oil cap for mayo first to see if its the head gasket, which i hope not. When you get the replacemnet thermo plastics go and get te Ford Galaxy ones for a 96 model. They're the same as the VR, just cheaper than VW. Allow yourself a good few hours to do this properly. Its a good time to really flush out the system too and you'll certainly see an improvement in the cooling efficiency. Best of luck!

[awright182 0]

Cheers Fla,

 

My mood has improved significantly! There's no mayo and the oil is nice and clean. Car has only done 45K. Even younger than yours! Thermostat housing looks favourite then. I'm £500 better off already!

 

It will be an opportunity to flush things out properly too. I messed up some time ago when I replaced the G11 coolant. Since then its tended to run hot in summer so if the housing has got to come off it will allow me to get a hose pipe in there and see if I can shift some of the rubbish.

 

I won't be able to do it this weekend cos I'm going away. I'll report back though when I get to the bottom of it.

 

Andy

 

I'll search the forum for advice on the thermostat and read my Bentley manual tonight and then order some bits from the Ford dealer on Monday!

[fla 9]

Just a few points that may help:give it time to flush out. Flush the block and the rad separately. Open the lower drain pipe and fill water from the header tank. You'll see loads of crap and muck coming out. Keep flushing until absolutely clear. Refill the system with water only, close the pipes off and bring up to temp. Drain it again when it cools somewhat and repeat the flushing process. If you can, remove the rad and run water into it slowly. Due to teh long route of the pipes it will only come out slowly too. This takes the most time. When you're happy with that, close everything up, refill with distilled water and G12+ and you're done. Oh, and replace all gaskets and seals and use a nice new thermostat. Should give you good results.

 

Yours is very low mileage indeed, i think Supercharged is only one of a few that has less than mine! Good acquisition there, well done.

[awright182 0]

I've got the car back together at last. The block was stained where the housing had cracked. I fitted a new low temp thermostat and put it all back together. I had a new leak from the black sensor. Luckily the local dealer had plenty of new seals in stock.

 

I've flushed it all out and filled up and run it up to temp. I'll flush it out again and then then put the G12+ in.

 

Oh, and I didn't pick it up fla. One careful owner from new. Me!

 

Thanks for your help

 

Andy