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I knew I saw a picture of that coolant gallery. The rust must be packed in there. You can't hurt the iron block with a good smack with a screwdriver. Be sure and angle the tip towards the block and not the aluminium rear seal cover.Get that rust out of there. You can see the drain port in the picture.
That's a great shot of the back of the motor Rusty,
I was wondering if I have done more bad than good in this procedure,
I have been digging with a modified coat hanger wire for a while now.
The hole is still blocked even under pressure from the cooling system itself.
Just distilled water in her warming her up to temp hoping this pressure would pop it out, if it did as I was watching I stop the motor instantly.
But still no water from that hole, I will try again later with a long screw driver.
This set back is a disturbance as I need my car soon, drivable.
You can see a passageway from the water jackets/cylinders on the left side of the picture and there is another on the right side..harder to see.
Rust will fall down from the water jackets and settle above the drain. It acts like a "trap"..easy to visualize from the picture..you may have a good amount of rust collected in the "trap" and it may be thick. Once you get water flowing from the block drain..put a garden hose in the coolant tank and let the block drain from the drain plug for a while..keep going till the water is perfectly clear...it will make a rusty stain for sure..so be prepared once you clear the block drain port.
If you can..use air pressure and a rubber tipped long air blower that will fit up there. Take the cap off the coolant bottle and blow air pressure up the drain port..that may clear the rust that has settled in there. Use air if mechanically you can't clear the port.
Last edited by Rusty Spokes; 01-07-2015 at 02:26 PM.
After doing the work with a lot of advice and information I still thought the blockage was there. So with symptoms of a bad thermostat I went out to change it, without taking off the timing belt.
All went well as I have recently been there before, but I had to slacken the belt or else risk some damage. I may have tightened it too much.
Disregarding this the state of the old stuck closed thermostat is shocking,
It looks like someone has drilled a lot of flow holes in the centre.
Symptoms were slowly getting dangerously hot in traffic and in highway conditions got too cool. Not the regular closed symptoms and mine was but she is bolted together again and testing will commence.
After doing the work with a lot of advice and information I still thought the blockage was there. So with symptoms of a bad thermostat I went out to change it, without taking off the timing belt.
All went well as I have recently been there before, but I had to slacken the belt or else risk some damage. I may have tightened it too much.
Disregarding this the state of the old stuck closed thermostat is shocking,
It looks like someone has drilled a lot of flow holes in the centre.
Symptoms were slowly getting dangerously hot in traffic and in highway conditions got too cool. Not the regular closed symptoms and mine was but she is bolted together again and testing will commence.
Thank you every one for your advice and help.
mine had a little higher operating temp that i liked (or should be)
it had clogged radiator, high rated fan switch and broken (open) thermostat
Once i changed those, she is perfect
Wow thats crazy looking thermostat. I mean... who in the world would do that to a thermostat without changing it?
BTW, which thermostat do you guys use? The 92C opening or the 87C?
Now I have 92C opening and the car runs a little more hotter than I would like to, but I bought BEHR OEM thermostat which fails less than all others and it opens at 87
By the way there is OEM Audi thermostat for some very hot temperature counties which opens at 80C and even there is Behr summer thermostat which opens at 70C
If that rear water jacket drain is full of rust..the radiator is likely has rust in it too. Rust will settle in the bottom of the radiator and keep the thermo switch from actually sensing the coolant temperature.
A new radiator with a thermo switch would be a good idea. It is a fiddly job to change but can be done without removing the A/C condenser.
Amazing the drilling on the old thermostat. A coolant flush would of been a good idea 10 years ago.
01-06-2015, 01:46 PM
