92 Jetta steamed windshield, found broken belt.

dieseljunkie

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Location
New England USA
TDI
96 Passat TDI wagon
Last night doing about 60 mph in the middle lane of a 5 lane parkway. The dash suddenly filled with smoke which heavily obscured vision through the windshield. I was barely able to see and navigate through traffic to pull into a Gulf station that luckily was 1/4 mile ahead. I thought it was electrical at first but there was no burning smell. It turned out to be coolant. The windshield was wet on the inside from the condensed steam. Popped the hood and saw signs of coolant also.

Called AAA for a tow and was told they are not allowed to tow on parkways. They wanted to transfer me to the State Police to call an authorized tow operator (probably $$$). Per Google Maps, I was 1/2 mile from an exit. So, about 20 minutes later, I drove off the Parkway and called AAA again.

This morning, I found a broken water pump belt. What probably happened was the belt broke while I was on the hwy. Coolant temp spiked from no coolant flow, pressure increased till either the heater core blew or the hose connection to heater core blew off.

Do you think the head gasket was damaged? Or just the heater core blew or hose blew off?

My plan is to bypass the heater core, put on a new belt, fill with coolant and see if the head gasket is ok first. If so, I will pull the heater core.
 

d24tdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2019
Location
MT
TDI
96 B4V
Bummer, that sounds like no fun.

Headgaskets and heads are pretty fragile on those old IDI engines. They can be pretty trouble free for a long time if there are no cooling system problems but it doesn't take much in the way of overheating to hurt them. If you caught it and got it shut down before it got really hot, it might be OK. Did you see what the gauge was doing when this was going on, assuming it works? Engine still was running normally when you pulled off?

I think you have a good plan. How do you intend to determine the condition of the headgasket? Checking for cooling system rapid pressurization on a cold engine is usually a good HG test but adding a pressure gauge to the system that you can monitor from behind the wheel and going for a hard drive with a warm engine is the only way to really know for sure.

At least the head is easy to yank on those old cars if you end up needing to do it. Good luck.
 

dieseljunkie

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Location
New England USA
TDI
96 Passat TDI wagon
I didn't look at the gauges at all due to steam billowing on the windshield, not being able to see while trying to pull over w/o crashing.

Engine was running normally when I pulled over and shut down. No odd noises.

Today, I bypassed the heater with a U shaped hose, added about a quart of coolant, put a new belt on and went for drive. Initially on local streets till it warmed up, not seeing any leaks, got on the hwy. Total driven around 8 miles. I pulled over often to feel the upper hose and it felt normal, not ballooned and not rock hard.

Coolant level has not dropped and the oil is not milky! I think I dodged a bullet.

Your suggestion to monitor coolant pressure with a gauge while driving is good. I will do that to make sure head gasket is indeed ok before replacing the heater core.
 
Last edited:
Top