Thread: Tiny leak out of expansion tank ejector

I'm definitely not dedicated enough to CNC anything! ... simple tube should suffice

Not in a rush for it for the next few days .. have PM start times, so freezing cold mornings will be spent tucked up in bed ... with the central heating on full throttle.
Will probably need it for the weekend tho .. volunteered for AM starts.

That's why you need a Y and not a tee , a y joiner works exactly the same as the ejector does.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

That's why you need a Y and not a tee , a y joiner works exactly the same as the ejector does.

Thanks everyone for the interesting and helpful information, and I'll be keen to follow up on tracking down and fitting a Y-piece when back in Victor Harbor.

For now though, I take it that a few vice-grips to close off the tubes should be OK to remove the plastic and install the T-piece rather than needing to do an upper radiator and expansion tank drain/refill?

I broke mine and replaced it with a brass 't' from the Humpty Doo hardware shop (being rural they sometimes have a better range of brass fittings off the shelf on a Sunday afternoon). For a long drive not sure I would trust a plastic 't' if that's what you ended up getting.

I broke my old unit open. From memory it is simply a void with a part partition. Water goes in and is slowed in the void to allow bubbles to rise to the expansion tank.

Can't really comment on the point made that the restricted piping to the unit aids in heating, given its pretty much always hot up here. Personally I think its main role is to get rid of bubbles - in its absence the potential for an air lock (as remote a chance as it might be) is probably more significant than an extended warm time - I assume you are familiar with filling with coolant, although vice grips will probably save you this exercise.

Enjoy your trip.

a T piece will keep your system running. (but you want to be mickey mouse on the rebleeds when you do cooling system work)
a Y piece installed correctly will mostly replicate the function of the ejector.
If you want to goto town with it....
fit a T piece and install into the T piece a bit of copper tubing that extends past the center of the join of the T from the thermostat side of the top of the T. it needs to be sized such that the area of the center of the pice of tubing is abou7t 1/3 the area of the between the outside of the copper tubing and the inside of the top of the T that heads to the header tank. You then solder the piece of copper tube in place in the thermostat housing side of the T piece. The end of the t Piece needs to extend about 2/3 the ID of the tube into the expansion tank side of the T.

This recreates the venturie effect that the original ejector did and draws any air out of the system, If you get it just perfect then the flow from the thermostat housing will draw the air out of the radiator while the engine is cold. once the engine warms up and the majority of the flow is through the radiator then the flow from the radiator will draw the air out of the top of the engine.

bascially, its like jetting a carby, just with coolant and higher densities.

Awesome info chaps.
Just fitted a flared pipe as stated.
Idled the D1 for about 2mins while I washed my hands, drove off and within a couple of mins(about 1.5klms) temps had started to rise.
Got to about 60°C halfway to where I usually see it at 60. But this was much later than usual, at about 11AM, and it's sunny and warmer than it has been for the past few weeks.

Compared to yesterday tho driving the same way in roughly similar ambient conditions .. it's done the job.

ps. I did have a Y piece I could have used but it was only plastic and thought better to use the brass T piece.

I'm thinking instead of vise grips, maybe 2 or 3 bolts of appropriate size inserted into each hose to stop coolant loss.
Even a bit of twig of the right diameter .. just to block off the hose and free your hands to do the next one .. and so on.
Have whatever you have at hand ready so that when you pull any hose, you can block the free port on the plastic thing with one finger whilst you jam the blocking thing into the free hose.

I just held my finger over the hose from the T-stat, whilst I inserted the pipe into the T piece and quickly replaced the hose over the pipe& T piece. I only lost a few dribbles of coolant.
Opened the T-stat housing plug to top up and again it barely took about 50-100ml using an old nipple top drink bottle.

obviously you'll lose a little bit of coolant as you remove each hose and refit and whatnot.
Just remember to top up coolant at the thermostat bleeder plug. As you do this, it'll overflow out of the coolant reservoir too.

blknight has some info on how to bleed the 300Tdi really easily, where you use a drink bottle upside down in the coolant reservoir.

Coke bottle coolant bleed trick

Like bee utey and blknight both said, the pip inside the T piece is only needed to help quicker warmup time.
Takes forever for the engine to warm up without it. But the T piece alone should work perfect for you to get you about.

I found some suitably sized bolts amongst the odds and ends one carries when travelling long distances with an aging car.

So this evening, with the help of bolts, vice grips and a second pair of hands I hope to change over to the T piece with very little loss of coolant, and any air travelling in the direction of the expansion tank. Fingers crossed.

Then it's off on a solo road trip to Qld tomorrow, heading home to Victor Harbor the long way!