Unusual thermostat failure, causes breakdown

[crazyvwvanman]

A family member called, his Vanagon broken down nearby. He said he parked it and then noticed it had made a trail of fluid and was dripping still. The coolant tank was empty and adding some just made the leak faster. It appeared to be coming from the water pump area but not the shaft seal.

After taking it apart it became obvious what had happened. The thermostat came apart and the small disc on the end went into the blades of the water pump. The pump spun it around and it wore a groove into the housing until it wore through and the coolant leaked out.

This van has a VW inline 4 cyl engine.
The thermostat says "made in USA" on it.

Mark

[levi]

I'm surprised that the metal on metal didn't make an interesting noise picked up by the driver.
_________________
One of these days I'm gonna settle down,
but till I do I won't be hangin round.
Going down that long lonesome highway,
gonna see life my way

https://youtu.be/cSrL0BXsO40

[furrylittleotter]

He's a lucky guy to have you nearby to help!

That corrosion looks sketchy. Wrong coolant or not changed often enough? Think that contributed to tstat failure?

Send us some sunshine ☀️

Neil2

[Robw_z]

I disassembled an I4 waterpump which had the housing filled in with JB weld, due to presumably an instance such as this.

-Rob

[Team WorldTour]