coolant drain location, '05 Golf

r2t2

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Location
New Jersey
TDI
'05 Golf
Halfway through a timing belt change on my '05 Golf using MOgolf's excellent demo instructions on an '04 Jetta, I'm about to change out the water pump. When I go to where I'd NORMALLY look to find a coolant drain at the bottom corner of the radiator there's an elbow... with no drain. MOGolf's picture show a nice drain T'd off from that elbow but maybe that was an upcharge for a better model:rolleyes: OK, I could pull the hose and let it glug all over, but that seems like a real sloppy solution. Anybody know the secret location? And while I'm asking do you really fill the whole system through the coolant bottle? How do you burp the air out without a radiator cap?
 

r2t2

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Location
New Jersey
TDI
'05 Golf
Tell me I didn't stump the experts... Nobody's drained the coolant from an
'05 Golf PD engine???
 

bmwM5power

Veteran Member
Joined
May 3, 2007
Location
Rochester NY
TDI
15 GSW TDI S 6MT / 02 JETTA TDI GLS 5MT 15 GOLF TDI 6MT
I had the same prob with my BEW, pulled the hose, as for the filling part, I pulled another hose to "burp" the air, sounds funny but I found no other way to do this
 

r2t2

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Location
New Jersey
TDI
'05 Golf
Well... DANG! I think I'll stop at the dealer to see if I can get one of those fancy elbows so I don't create a super fund site at the next change.:mad: I guess I'll be putting my morter mixing tub to an alternate use. How about the fill? Just through the coolant bottle?
 

MayorDJQ

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Location
Williamstown, Mass
TDI
'10 Golf 2dr 6m, sold.
I can't comment on an '05, but when Herm did the timing belt on my '02, he had me aim the drain pan, and just took the water pump out. WHen it came time to refill, he just refilled at the bottle. I kept an eye on the level for a few days and added a little bit more over a few days. I didn't have any issues with air in the heater core, etc.
 

r2t2

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Location
New Jersey
TDI
'05 Golf
Yeah, I was hoping to avoid gumming up the whole belt area with coolant. Some things I just want to keep clean. How cheap can VW be to save
costs by not providing a drain? I mean you follow the hydraulics from the pump to the EGR to the oil cooler to the heater core to the where ever. All that complexity and they leave out a simple drain mechanism? I'm betting they make one and VW sells it for another model cause the '04 jetta sure has one and it looks an awful lot like my front end.
 

scurvy

Good Ol' Boy
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Location
Chicago IL USA
TDI
2006 Golf
r2t2 said:
And while I'm asking do you really fill the whole system through the coolant bottle?
Yep, it goes pretty quick.
r2t2 said:
How do you burp the air out without a radiator cap?
You use a mityvac or oil extractor on the overflow hose to pull the air out of the system. Works like a charm.
 

r2t2

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Location
New Jersey
TDI
'05 Golf
scurvy said:
You use a mityvac or oil extractor on the overflow hose to pull the air out of the system. Works like a charm.
Hmmm... clever. I never thought of that. Thanks. I always have fear of pockets of air getting stuck where they don't belong. Happened on an Isuzu in my past and burned up my valves pretty good. On the positive side it ran ok on two cylinders:rolleyes:.
 
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