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Maurau75
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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 Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 11:43 am Post subject: Coolant drain and cooling system flush |
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hi all
First of all sorry for my bad english, i will do my best..
I'm a new owner of a vw Caravelle 1.6td '87. It was stopped for many time..i think at least ten years. The coolant tank ( i have not expansion tank, is it possible?) is almost empty..and the poor coolant is very degraded with a red/orange rusty color. So i would like to:
1) drain the remaing old coolant
2) flush the full cooling system
3) add new coolant
Could someone tell me, step by step, how i have to do?
Thanks
maurizio |
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Ahwahnee
Samba Member
Joined: June 05, 2010
Posts: 10305
Location: Mt Lemmon, AZ
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| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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Your English is fine and certainly much better than my Italian.
It can be hard to fully empty a cooling sysyem so when it is full of foul old stuff I just drain what I can, fill with clean water and run it up to temperature.
I then drain and repeat this process until the discharge is nearly pure water.
There are some cooling system flush products but they may be more for corrosion and scale in the engine than simply clearing out old coolant.
I do not have experience with your system so the one aspect of this I cannot comment on is how you bleed the air out of the system each time you refill. The manual or hopefully some one here will help with that.
To make the draining easier I added a 'Tee' in one of the heater hoses running under the van:
Undoing that cap drains a fair amount of the coolant at a location convenient for a bucket. |
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insyncro
Banned
Joined: March 07, 2002
Posts: 15086
Location: New York
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| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 4:45 pm Post subject: |
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Drain all nasty stuff.
Fill with water, drive for 25 miles.
Drain water, refill with fresh water and drive another 25 miles.
Than fill with 50/50 coolant and water. |
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bluebus86
Banned
Joined: September 02, 2010
Posts: 11075
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| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Ahwahnee wrote: |
Your English is fine and certainly much better than my Italian.
It can be hard to fully empty a cooling sysyem so when it is full of foul old stuff I just drain what I can, fill with clean water and run it up to temperature.
I then drain and repeat this process until the discharge is nearly pure water.
There are some cooling system flush products but they may be more for corrosion and scale in the engine than simply clearing out old coolant.
I do not have experience with your system so the one aspect of this I cannot comment on is how you bleed the air out of the system each time you refill. The manual or hopefully some one here will help with that.
To make the draining easier I added a 'Tee' in one of the heater hoses running under the van:
Undoing that cap drains a fair amount of the coolant at a location convenient for a bucket. |
that is a flush and fill connector in the photograph I believe., you can buy the kit to add this connector from many autostores in America Prestone makes a popular kit. this makes flushing a breeze.
_________________
Help Prevent VW Engine Fires, see this link.....Engine safety wire information
Stop introducing dirt into your oil when adjusting valves ... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=683022 |
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Maurau75
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Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you very much!!
I will try with your suggestion👍🏻👍🏻
Last edited by Maurau75 on Thu Sep 10, 2015 11:39 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Wildthings
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Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 52718
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| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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| It is important to use distilled or demineralized water. Using impure water can lead to serious corrosion problems. |
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Maurau75
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 11:40 pm Post subject: |
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Justanother thing:
In my instruction manual i read that on my bus i should have two coolant tank:
1 reservoir tank, behind the license plate
2 expansion tank, near battery.
But, checking on the bus, i see only the expansion tank, is it normal?or do ilost some pieces on the road?!😁 |
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Wildthings
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Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 52718
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 12:21 am Post subject: |
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| Maurau75 wrote: |
J
But, checking on the bus, i see only the expansion tank, is it normal?or do ilost some pieces on the road?!😁 |
Sounds like you have it figured out.  |
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Maurau75
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Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 12:56 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Wildthings"]
| Maurau75 wrote: |
Sounds like you have it figured out. |
Really?
But there is not free hose or open hole..
Now i'm very perplexed.. |
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Wildthings
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Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 52718
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:38 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Maurau75"]
| Wildthings wrote: |
| Maurau75 wrote: |
Sounds like you have it figured out. |
Really?
But there is not free hose or open hole..
Now i'm very perplexed.. |
Just a hose that comes off the pressure cap. |
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Maurau75
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:42 am Post subject: |
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| Could you send me some sample photo?later i take some photo of mine |
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Maurau75
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 4:52 am Post subject: For Mellow Yellow |
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i can't send PM for my first day on forum
My mail is
[email protected]
Thanks a lot for interesting in my problems
Best regards |
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Ahwahnee
Samba Member
Joined: June 05, 2010
Posts: 10305
Location: Mt Lemmon, AZ
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 6:43 am Post subject: |
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| Wildthings wrote: |
| Maurau75 wrote: |
...But there is not free hose or open hole..
Now i'm very perplexed.. |
Just a hose that comes off the pressure cap. |
Does the pressure tank & cap look like this (photo swiped from another post, apologies if it is not correct):
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Maurau75
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Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 7:05 am Post subject: |
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This my engine
Pic is a little small.. But as you can see..i only have expansion tank beattery. No reservoir tank behind license plate..
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Maurau75
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Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:34 am Post subject: |
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From another thread ( author Andrew Libby):
"
All single tank systems that I've seen place the single tank decidedly above any other component of the cooling system. I don't know if these have been mentioned, but the two tank system works very well in a vanagon because the radiator is significantly higher than the engine compartment and the height of the pressure tank is limited to the engine bay (well, sorta... I saw one subi conversion where they mounted the expansion tank in the back cabinet well above the top of the radiator and eliminated all the vanagon coolant bleeding BS altogether) and allows for monitoring of proper coolant level without emptying the rear hatch area of all the stuff and opening the engine compartment. The two tank system should work just fine with any typical engine installation but is not strictly necessary and so some folks eliminate the second tank in order to gain engine real estate..."
So ..could be possible that my van has only a tank? |
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bluebus86
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Joined: September 02, 2010
Posts: 11075
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:29 am Post subject: |
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| Maurau75 wrote: |
Justanother thing:
In my instruction manual i read that on my bus i should have two coolant tank:
1 reservoir tank, behind the license plate
2 expansion tank, near battery.
But, checking on the bus, i see only the expansion tank, is it normal?or do ilost some pieces on the road?!😁 |
there should be two tanks, both originally plastic one is a pressure tank or expansion tank, the other is a vented overflow tank. You need to look inside the engine cover to see the expansion tank, the overflow tank is just ahead of the rear license plate.
Oh, now I see you have an inline motor, so all bets are off I described the boxer motor tanks. the overfill tank if often plumbed to a fitting on or near the pressure cap on the expansion tank. If you second tank is missing then that means the overflow is possibly let to vent on the street, which means you don't have anyway to recover the fluid for when the system cools down and needs to suck the overflow fluid back into the system
_________________
Help Prevent VW Engine Fires, see this link.....Engine safety wire information
Stop introducing dirt into your oil when adjusting valves ... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=683022 |
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Maurau75
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Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Ok tnk..tomorrow i will make a better check with detailed pics. |
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Maurau75
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 1:22 pm Post subject: |
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Ok..i'm back 
How you can see my expansion tank cap has not a pipe for hose to reservoir/overflow tank..and obviously there isn'n any tank behinf license plate.
Now my question is: should i leave it as it is or shoud i add an overflow tank?
Anyway..back to the coolant drain: i don't find the under head drain plug (where damn are its?) so i decide to buy and add, as suggested, a Prestone T connector..i suppose i had to insert it in the heater hose? Isn't it?
I had to open also thermo bleeding screw..ehm...is that in photo below? ( what i should open ?)
At the end a little off topic:checking better the engine bay i find two "things" that seems to be broken.. Could you tell me names and what they are?
Sorry for long post..but i was going crazy:)
Best regards |
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Wildthings
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Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 52718
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| Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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At least some maybe all Diesels had a second tank, it is a different tank than used with the WBXers. Have no idea where to find one.
From the looks of your pressure (expansion) tank you should be looking for a new one of those as well. |
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Maurau75
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2015
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Wildthings wrote: |
At least some maybe all Diesels had a second tank, it is a different tank than used with the WBXers. Have no idea where to find one.
From the looks of your pressure (expansion) tank you should be looking for a new one of those as well. |
I know..i've ordered just now 
When i wil replace it, i could make flush with fresh water directly into the upper hose, is it possible? |
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