Coolant Change/Bleeding Procedures...Please

nbhab

Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Location
New Brunswick
TDI
2002 Jetta
Thanks. I do not believe that I overtorqued the housing. I did not tightnen it with much force. There is no room to get my torque wrench down in there so I have to do it by feel. I'll do the whole thing over tonight. Oh well. Thanks all.
 

nbhab

Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Location
New Brunswick
TDI
2002 Jetta
I changed the thermo and seal and flushed the system adding new G12 as per instructuions on this thread. Now I have a huge leak coming from somewhere down at the right bottom region of the engine. May be a leaky water pump or could be a hose. It was dark last night when I finished so it is hard to say. I wish I had a shcematic of the engine so I could see what is down there instead of taking off all the parts to see. It is coming off the sides of the oil pan cover. Hoping it is just a hose but likely is a bad water pump. Engine temp is good but the heater is not sending out any heat, only cold air. Anyone care to guess? Thank you all. Advice is truly appreciated.
 

Herb Score

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 1, 2010
Location
Lake Orion, MI
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon
I'm new to this VW stuff and don't know all the designations, so not sure what NB is, but on my 2003 Jetta that I just did the TB on I did not need to remove the side skirt to drain. Just the bottom tray that was already off.
 

nbhab

Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Location
New Brunswick
TDI
2002 Jetta
Forgive me if I am wrong, but if you are speaking of my username, 'nbhab', the nb stands for New Brunswick, my home province.
 

travis45

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2009
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
14 Sportwagen, 96 Passat TDI Sedan
nbhab, it reminds me of how my 89 jetta greaseburner died. I was having similar problems with it. Overheating, heater wouldn't work. It turned out that the small coolant hose that is the air vent off of the upper radiator hose plugged causing an air bubble in the coolant system. The air in the system was never able to get back to the high point of the compression tank. I figured it out, it was plugged right at the connection to the compression tank. Cut the bad inch off the end and suddenly all the coolant drained in the the engine from the comp. tank. Drove it for a few days, but unfortunately, I warped the head and lost the head gasket. It's okay though, it had 415K on it and the doors were falling off.
 

JB05

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Location
Il.USA
TDI
Golf,2005,anthracite blue
I used this how-to as a guide for draining my radiator, but I discovered that mine does not have a drain valve. Instead there is a "quick release" elbow that the bottom hose connects to. Well I completely removed the U shaped clip because I could not get any leverage to pull up on this clip. The plastic elbow that fits into the plastic radiator side tank would not budge even after soaking it with PB blaster. I was afraid to use any tools to loosen it, so I just unclamped the hose itself and drained it that way. I tried to put the quick release clip back on, but there was no room without removing the battery perhaps. I put the clip on from the bottom instead, and hopefully it will stay put. I tried researching this quick release, but I only found one thread. Bentley manual is very brief on the matter. To make matters worse I got drenched in a down pour. Sigh!!!
 

travis45

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2009
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
14 Sportwagen, 96 Passat TDI Sedan
My understanding is that removing the retaining clip and popping the hose off is the correct procedure for draining the radiator. It can be a bit splashy, but it sure drains quick.
 

steffen707

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2005
Location
Central Wisconsin
TDI
01 Jetta GLS TDI
the red arrow points to the hose oldpoopie is talking about. Yes a mity vac will werk.

are you saying to use a mighty vac on this hose to bleed the air out of the system, or are you saying, you use the mighty vac to completely suck all the coolant out of the system, to do a drain/refill?
 

steffen707

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2005
Location
Central Wisconsin
TDI
01 Jetta GLS TDI
Okay I thought so. I installed a 1000w zerostart yesterday and used my mighty vac on that line. I was surprised that i wasn't pulling a vaccum, until I all of a sudden got coolant sucked up the line. I removed the mighty vac catch can because I thought maybe it was leaking, so I ended up sucking coolant into the mighty vac. Hopefully it doesn't break it now.
 
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