oil in my 1.6l diesel Vanagon coolant reservoir

dworker

This was depressing to see. It has just happened in the last 150 miles. No evidence of coolant in oil. Engine is running fine, with no power loss, and no signs of fluid leakage. I have no oil cooler on this engine. I have never run this engine hard (never over 60 mph, usually 50 ), or overheated it.

I figure it can be one of the following:
1. Bad head gasket
2. cracked head (bad news)
3. Possibly a leak at coolant pump.

Would it do me any good at all to re-torque the head? This engine was rebuilt 20k miles ago from previous owner. I have good receipts from that. Maybe they didn't re-torque it after 1k miles.

TIA Sad

kd4yor · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 5:51 pm Post subject:

do you have this square housing above the oil filter?

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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82 Westy oil burner

dworker

I just checked it (out in the barn, at night) . And coolant hoses connect this square mount. I just checked my Bentley manual, and yes, I do have an oil cooler. You can see I am a newbie with this diesel van.

The oil cooler is easy to get at. I see now that the Bentley tells me how to test it also.

Thanks for the info. I could have wasted hours checking other things.

MarkWard · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:49 am Post subject:

kd4yor · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:30 am Post subject:

I can get you more pics if needed. As best I can tell it's original.
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82 Westy oil burner

?Waldo? · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:41 am Post subject:

Nope, that's a late WBX tank. Notice the copper reducer and the short section of hose on the top fitting. You can also see a bit of an angle bracket that someone added for mounting the tank. That's because the '82 hose won't fit the later tank. Also, the '82 lacked the required wiring for the coolant level sensor. Consider yourself blessed. Tha later tank is still available new and is inexpensive. The '82 tank is NLA and all the original ones are old brittle plastic. Whoever converted yours to the later tank did a fine job.

Andrew

kd4yor · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:52 am Post subject:

the more I dig into this van the happier I am
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82 Westy oil burner

MarkWard · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:56 am Post subject:

Off to the U-pickem this weekend. We have one 90 Vanagon. I'll check to see if the mounting bracket is still there for the tank. Do you know, Is the bracket welded or bolted to the vanagon? I don't see a part number for the mounting bracket, so I assume it is welded to the chassis. Perhaps since I am relocating it and it bolts to the bracket I can just get a new tank and fabricate a mounting bracket. Thank you for the information.

Andrew , one last question. That is a pretty good sized top hose. It is plumbed into what would be the radiator supply side. Does the return on the tank close when the thermostat opens? Otherwise, wouldn't the flow to the radiator have to compete with the tank filling and draining at the same time. The coolant would follow the shortest path?

?Waldo? · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:32 pm Post subject:

Easiest bracket for the tank is a couple of zip ties appropriately placed. More elegant and only a little more work is to use a piece of fairly beefy aluminum or steel angle and bolt it to the tank and battery tray side. You might also be able to snag the stock bracket although I can't remember how it's fastened, likely welding as you say.

The supply to the expansion tank is in the radiator supply and the return from the tank goes to the radiator return/thermostat. You are correct that the flow in that circuit completely bypasses the radiator. It actually only flows that circuit when the thermostat is open not closed, but there is a restrictor in the top hose at the intersection of the top hose with the radiator supply. That restrictor is the smallest point in that line and so regulates the flow in that circuit. If you squeeze the top hose at that intersection you should be able to feel it.

Andrew

MarkWard · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:45 pm Post subject:

Andrew, thank you for the clarification. I have an ALH TDI conversion, and the hoses are a mix. I have a plastic T with a temp sensor on my supply line to the radiator. The "T" is 3/4 heater hose. There is no restriction. It runs to the top of my expansion tank. The tank is then plumbed back into the tube on the heater return of the water pump. The ALH only has two waterpump returns that I can tell. The main one from the radiator and a metal tube with about 3 or 4 heater hose size inlets. The oil cooler shares one. That is what got me to thinking that unlike the early diesel, the TDI may actually only have a thermostat that opens to the radiator, but does not close off the bypass as earlier diesels did. Does that make sense? The ALH also has a bleed an 8mm bleed hose on the back of the head with no place to go. I was thinking about using a resevoir from a Golf and changing the resevoir tank plumbing completely. I could then connect the bleed on the head to the expansion tank. I'd have to remove the injection pump to get a clear view of the circulation and not up to doing that right now. Everything seems to be working fine. The manual is not clear enough. Perhaps if I remove the thermostat I can get a clearer picture of the flow. My tank will end up relocated to the drivers side near the intake. I have a Donaldson air filter that will go where the stock tank is. I was working on it over the weekend and the picture in this post caught my eye. thanks again. mark

kd4yor · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:55 pm Post subject:

what is the purpose of the bleed in the Jetta config? is it just to insure no air is in the head/block?

why not put a bleed screw in it. Vent it when filling and close it off.
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82 Westy oil burner

?Waldo? · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:56 pm Post subject:

Honestly I'm not familiar enough with the ALH flow paths to give decent advice on it, especially in the 50° install angle. Luckily, the TDI motors send so much less heat into the coolant that you have a considerably larger cushion against overheating than the IDI motors.

MarkWard · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 2:17 pm Post subject:

I had the same thought about adding a bleed on the back of the head, but passed. Originally it was tied into the EGR cooling exchanger. Once I spend a little more time, I will report back. Mark


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