Thread: Coolant evacuation.

It could also be a blockage in the radiator or somewhere else in the system or a stuck thermostat.

I'm still chasing my coolant problem but mine is drinking the stuff, with no external leaks and the heater bypassed.

If yours is the head gasket, maybe we can get a bulk deal. :-)

Could be radiator, i took the head off anyway and it looks good but it appears that one of the core plugs is weeping and the one on the rear of the head has a sort of sealant gunk on it that has started weeping as well.
Will be cleaning head and block and fitting new gasket along with a reco'd radiator.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Could be radiator, i took the head off anyway and it looks good but it appears that one of the core plugs is weeping and the one on the rear of the head has a sort of sealant gunk on it that has started weeping as well.
Will be cleaning head and block and fitting new gasket along with a reco'd radiator.

Have you checked the head surface for flatness, esp. between cyls 2 and 3, what sort of head gasket was it that was fitted, Regards frank.

Will be checking it after i degrease and clean it, it was an elring as supplied with the head.

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Update time. Took my time doing the gasket over the weekend, removed head friday arvo and took all saturday to clean and check head and block.
scraped, sanded and scotch brited the block til it was shiny and wiped down with alcohol. Head was scotch brited til i could see my reflection in it and wiped with alcohol, tiny cracks found around the glow plug holes which seems to be normal for tdi heads.
Found that the head heater hose fitting was weeping so used thread sealer on that, also found that the hose clamp had a tight spot which prevented it providing enough pressure to seal properly.
After assembly i went to fit a recently swapped viscous fan unit and found that it spun easily by hand so looks like these couple of issues lead to the gasket failure.
Ran nice and smooth on the way to work this morning but top hose leaked as i noticed the clamp was on crooked, fingers crossed thats all it is.

Didnt las long, drove great to work on Tuesday but on the way home boom and coolant tank burst , temp didnt rise so i assume it is either the thermostat or pump that is faulty. Got another coolant tank for testing purposes.
My mystery seal was from the thermostat and although it opened in hot water, while running and at temp there is almost nil coolant flowing thru top rad hose. Pump is 2 1/2 yo.

Must be a lot of pressure to do that,... How can either a faulty thermostat or pump cause an increase in pressure in the tank if the water temp hasn't increased?

Originally Posted by theNEWT

Must be a lot of pressure to do that,... How can either a faulty thermostat or pump cause an increase in pressure in the tank if the water temp hasn't increased?

The temp would have increased but not registered by the sender in the t/stat housing, i'm guessing it was caused by excessive combustion pressure leaked into the system by the head gasket letting go.
I'm not confident the head has survived the 100klm's i drove with possibly no/little coolant flow, replacement head is prepped ready to go.
Still not 100% sure what the root cause was, pump seems still intact and t/stat did open when tested in boiling water.