On Saturday I changed the coolant in the wagon. When I bought the car, the previous owner gave me all the extra fluids that go with the car, which included T6, some Power Service, some CHF-11S, and a nearly new bottle of G12. When I inspected the car I noticed it had 'evil green' coolant in it and asked if she added the VW coolant, and she said she had.
I kept an eye on it on the way home to make sure it wouldn't overheat, and it ran fine. The coolant still had the green color so I knew she hadn't added much.
The thermostat was also running a little low, operating from 180° to 197°F, with the normal temp at about 187°. While it was fine, it was lower than I'd like to see, so I decided that since I had to change the coolant, I'd change the thermostat, and since I was changing the thermostat, I'd change the crusty looking metal coolant pipe. This developed a leak on the wife's B4 and I didn't want to deal with it later. And, since I was doing all that, I thought I'd add a little personality and toss on a new looking VR-6 coolant bottle (free from the local junkyard), which is slightly larger than the TDI.
The coolant was a darker green color with swirls of dark G12 that never fully mixed, and definitely not right. It was still fluid and had not settled into a mess since I don't think enough was added to create it, but I flushed the system well with hot water to make sure it was cleaned out.
The thermostat I used was a Stant 238 from NAPA, which was about 1/3 the cost of one from anywhere else and I've had good luck with Stant, not so much with Wahler. The old 87°C thermostat was from 2006, probably when they switched to the 'evil green' coolant. The PO had owned the car since 2001.
When taking apart the metal coolant pipe, I noticed someone forgot a bolt.
There wasn't one missing anywhere, so I just removed it. This isn't the first time I've found stuff like this (sometimes in the head), and it amazes me people who work on cars would move on and just replace the stuff that goes missing. If it went missing, it when missing
somewhere, and it needs to be found. When I am working on a car and drop a screw or bolt, all work stops until all parts are accounted for. It's also one of the reasons I am a huge proponent of the magnetic trays.
The metal pipe was missing the bracket on for the IP, so I'll have to cut the old one off and weld it on later.
I had to put on another power steering pump belt bolt because someone obviously hasn't a CLUE as to how to tension the belt properly. When I say
someone, I mean someone at a garage or stealership, since that is who worked on the car, the OP didn't even change her own oil (but did supply it and the filter for others to change). Otherwise it went off without a hitch. I flushed the system with hot water, purged it with air, and then refilled with G12. The operating temperature is now 198°F, varies between 193° and 212° on my Scangauge and the cluster gauge still stays in the same place.
I gave the engine another washing after I was done.
Then on Sunday I changed out the serpentine tensioner to reduce the bounce, and now I have a startup squeak, so I'll change out the harmonic balancer and toss on a new roller while I'm at it. All my other B4's have belts that simply do not move at all, as they shouldn't. I have also ordered an AOD pulley for the alternator and will change it when I toss on the new alternator since this one is throwing a intermittent code. The voltage drops to 13.5 when it's raining or when I wash the engine, so it has an internal problem. From the PO's numerous records it was throwing the code ever since the stealership replaced it with a new one many years ago and several attempts to 'correct' it since then involved just clearing the code, which doesn't reappear right away. While it does throw a code, it does not illuminate the CEL and charges the battery fine, but I'll fix it so it's correct.
Other than that, it's been great and the last tank yielded just over 50 mpg at 1,221 miles, and I still had a few gallons left. I have a rear wheel bearing noise I will address this week, toss on some new front brake pads, a new driver's side parking brake cable, new rear strut boots (I was happy to see the fairly new Bilstein TC's), and maybe flush the brake system while I'm in there.
Then I get to replace all the front control arm bushings and swaybar end links.
Never a dull day with a B4.
