TDI 150 cooling system woes...

[dopiaza]

Hi,
My 03 TDI 150 developed a coolant leak (out of overflow) a while ago which slowly got worse and was diagnosed as head gasket failure as the cooling system was highly pressurised even when cold and exhaust gases were found in the coolant. To cut a long story shory a 'mate' offered to do the job for me including skimming the head (good idea?) and changing the water pump/cambelt. Got the car back a week ago and basically he's shafted me. Won't answer any calls/texts so obviously knows he's screwed it up.

The major problem is that the coolant doesn't appear to be circulating properly. No heat whatsoever from the heater. Stripped some of the cooling system down this weekend and have found the following:

1) After a 10 minute leisurely drive the top hose is hot but the bottom is still cold although the radiator is hot at the top. Violent bubbling from the coolant expansion bottle

2) Thermostat appears ok, starts to open under 100C and opens 5mm ish at 100C

3) If I remove the small pipe to the top of the coolant bottle with the engine running and warm it spits water and steam out. No circulation seen in the coolant bottle when engine running.

Rather than give it to a garage which will charge me a fortune to tell me it's buggered, thought I'd ask here if anyone has any ideas or any further tests I can do the find out what's wrong? I'm thinking water pump? Is there an easy way to test this? Beer vouchers are waiting for any local gurus who could spare an hour of their time to take a look (Leeds/Bradford) or recommendations for a local trustworthy garage who won't just replace everything until they find the fault. I'm handy with a set of spanners but the water pump/head gasket job looked a bit above my level of expertise!
Cheers,
Graham

[Crasher]

Sounds like the water pump has failed, the impellers come off. You can just about check this after removing the thermostat.

[dopiaza]

Sounds like the water pump has failed, the impellers come off. You can just about check this after removing the thermostat.

Hi,
Thanks for the quick reply. I had the thermostat out at the weekend, how do I check the pump if I get it off again?

Annoying thing is that the water pump/cambelt were only 35k old so prob didn't even need replacing!

Cheers,
Graham

[Crasher]

If the water pump is only 35K old I doubt it is the problem. You can just about feel the water pump impeller with the thermostat out and it should not spin on its own. Please ensure no one starts the engine whilst you are doing this…

[dopiaza]

Sorry, bit of confusion there, the water pump was only 35k old when the head gasket was done but was replaced anyway as the cambelt had to come off to do the head gasket. So the pump's new - good to know I can check it through the thermostat hole though, is it about a finger's length inside the hole? Can you see it or is it just a case of prodding around?

Do you know if the top small pipe to the coolant bottle should have a flow of water when the engine's running? I'm guessing if it should but doesn't then that pretty much confirms the dodgy pump diagnosis?

Thanks for your help and sorry for all the questions...it's much appreciated!

Graham

[Crasher]

If there is no flow of water from the small pipe to the expansion bottle that almost certainly confirms that the pump is not working.

[dopiaza]

Thanks, I'll whip the thermostat back off just to double check but assuming it needs a new one, any suggestions for a good mechanic in the West Yorkshire area?

Cheers
Graham