Hi guys :) When I was in Paris last week I had a bit of a wobbly one with the cooling system on my 86 Transporter. As I was desparatly trying to park the bus it overheated. I drove back to London and about 100 miles from Paris it happened again on the motorway. When the bus was cool again I drove to the filling station and let it cool again. The expansion bottle (NOT the overflow resovoir the one inside the bus)was empty and I filled it with tap water, ran the bus and kept filling untill it would take no more then half filled the overflow resovoir). It was fine all the way back to London. On the back of the thermostat housing there is "missing" hose. This was explained to me by my mechanic as associated with the fact that my bus is an 86 but the engine is a very early watercooled one for which the parts are not availiable. It all works fine except that the "Missing" hose is about 4in long and had what looks like a bit of dowel pushed into it and then sealed with a jubillie clip. This is leaking slightly onto one of the plugs (which explains the missfireing problems I have had on startup). So I know what the problem is !! but what to do about it !! :) Can anyone tell me ... 1. Has the engine overheating caused any permenent damage. 2. what I would really like to do is to totally drain the cooling system and flush it out then recharge it with the VW aproved coolant (I had a totally recon engine last year mostly due to studs which is not a financial experience I am unlikely to forget !!) Given that I have no service data how do I do this and what is the best coolant to use ? 3. While it is down I will have to block this pipe what is the best way ? I used to get a guy to service the bus for me but I am thinking of doing this myself now. I use the 5000 mile service interval for oil, filter etc it's 3,000 since the oil was done and 8 since the plugs should I do the whole lot while I am getting dirty ? What should I look out for if I do ? Thanks :) Justin Pentecost Email:-jpentecost@easynet.co.uk Tel:- +44 (0)171 837 8470 Fax:- +44 (0)171 278 7838 Mobile:- +44 (0)973 317 241 Snail Mail:- The Red Door, The Old Motorail Terminal, Cheney Rd, Kings Cross, London, NW1 2TF,United Kingdom |
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