I've done the searches and looked on the tech section and i dont think thats what im after, My car overheated on the way home from work. i had the a/c on becasue of the 37-38 degree day. I noticed it started to not be as 'crisp cold' so i was thinking wtf?? maybe im in a hot part of the drive home. I looked at the temp guage and it was half way (wich is what my car sits at normally.) But it was on it's way up, slowly but it was definately rising. So i turned the a/c off. Then switch it to heater, full bore. Pulled over and kept the car idling.. (not sure whether i should have kept it idling but i remembered somwhere that i should keep it going). Popped the bonnet, heard it bubbling.I looked underneath while still running and it was leaking, not HEAPS but a definate drip. so waited for it to cool down. waited about 2-30 mins and it was cooler so i used a shirt i had in the boot to half open the cap and let pressure realese... was still hot and bubbling so i left it a further 20 mins and it was done bubbling. Then turned the car off. after the car being off for a while it seemed to stop leaking. so i locked it up (the car) and walked to a nearby house and asked for a jug of water... anyway, i got a jug of 7L of water and slowly poured it in every now and then turning the car on for 15 seconds... then off to mix the cold water with the hot coolant. Anyway it eventually filled up with no more leaks (car is now off). i put the cap back on and waited another 10 mins.. No more leaks and still full. I decided to drive home with a eagle eye on the temp gauge.(flame suit on) It made it home (another 10km's) with no problems but when i checked coolant lvl when i got home. was definately lower. (not just the air escaping. Theres definatly a leak when the car runs.) I went and bought coolant in a different car and topped it up with that. Techtalloy 90. i think it was. Went for a short drive... (15 mins and as i was getting in the driveway it was rising again. After looking in the rad cap... fluid not able to be seen.) Now what im after by posting this is im going to have to fix it obviously.. but i need to diagnose it first.. the guy where i bought the coolant said that z32's water pumps sometimes have a small leak from the bottom when they're on there way out?? But what im after is to know what to take of to inspect.. (probably front bar?), what else... or anything else i can do to diagnose the leak.. problem? Thanks for any help
Check the radiator cap, I had a similar issue and that was the problem. So you can't actually see the coolant leaking anywhere? Nothing from around the passenger front guard?
When I hear boling from mine (mine has overheated about 30 times lol) its rumbaling like crazy in the overflow bottle then once the overflow bottle is full the water starts leaking out the little hole in the overflow bottle. Water pours out the passinger front side of the car under the overflow bottle. This is caused coz I have to much pressure in the rad for the rad cap to vent (could be faulty rad cap too) and it is spitting out the water into the overflow bottle ( a blown head gasket is my main issue ) If this is the case then I doubt you have a leak but you could have something like a blockage which is why the car is getting hot.
dont drive it. A faint leak under pressure (car running) is a good sign that hose is about to burst. Dont need to take front bar off. Put the car on ramps, giving you good access to underneath it. Let it idle till reaching operating temperature. Once the system pressurises, keep an eye on underneath for coolant leaking. From there, you should be able to diagnose where the leak is originating. Take it as good luck that you noticed the leak before it became worse, and dont tempt fate by driving it, even on short runs. oh, and a faint leak in 1 of the multiple hoses that are coming close to 20 years old is a sign that ALL will soon start doing so. Might be time for a plenum pull. Preventative maintenance is always cheaper in the long run
Your right, there was leaks from the area around front gaurd.. which is where the overflow bottle is.. is it not? (saw it when installing intercoolers..) Just fyi. Mine is a 1995 2 seat tt Man Ok i'll put it on ramps, fill it up with water/coolant. Run it to operating temp then look for leaks. If it just looks like from under front passenger gaurd.. Then where am i at? Do i take the front passenger wheel splash guard off? to see?
I went down and had a look and the rad cap looks in very good condition.. But i just rmemeber while installing bigger side mounts. My friend and i had to bend up 3 hoses (probably 10 mm diametre as specified in the tech section of "installing larger intercoolers") one or two were metal and the other one or two were rubber tubes.. Does anyone know if these could be linked to radiator/cooling? I know thats vague so sorry. Im going to go inspect now.
Take it to the local garage where they would have a pressure tester. It's a little pump that connects in place of the radiator cap. A couple of strokes to pressurize the system and look for leaks. Done in a few minutes and should not cost much if anything. If no leaks, probably the cap itself.
Ok, so i filled the radiator with coolant and took the front bar off. Then ran the engine for about 30-40 mins and it still didnt get hot.. so i put the front bar back on and went for a quick drive.. up hills and stuff to get it working.. (not far from home (under 1km) i left the splash gaurd off so my dad (who was constantly checking for leaks as i stopped as i drove past him.) and he was checking the coolant overflow bottle as i past. and it eventually filled up or was almost filled up and still no leaks. The temp gauge was only going slightly over half.. then going back down as i backed off... I dont know whats going on :S
I found a slow leak in my N/A the other week. It was in one of the two short hoses that come off the back of the hard water pipe (coolant bypass hoses - Part # 14055). When I took it off there was only a small crack on the outside but on the inside the crack was nearly the whole length of the hose. As OZX_320 has already said, on some of these cars there are still original hoses whcih are fast approaching their use by date. I replaced all of the hoses on my TT when I first bought it, and will be doing the same on the N/A in the near future. Money well spent I think. Tony
Can any of the coolant rails be replaced ? When I was doing the coolant bypass / EGR delete, most of the hose nipples / coolant hardlines around the area were rusted to sh*ts, I'm surprised they didn't crack while trying to get the old hoses off. Would be nice to be able to replace those items, cause it isn't just the hoses that can case leaks. A few of the hardlines I had to remove were separate from the block, so I imagine they can be replaced. Expensive, no doubt, but possible?
personally found that once I did the plenum pull and bypass (on a TT), the only coolant hardpiping that is retained is the inlet and outlet pipes at the back of the plenum, and "some" of the hardpiping from the turbos. I say some, because the passenger side turbo hardpipe that runs to the front of the plenum was trimmed back. Deleted the piping for the AAC also. In the end, the entire car has a total of 11 coolant pipes..... 12 including the radiator overflow (in the engine bay that is).
Do all the under plenum bypasses. They are not needed for our climate and will only give problems later on.
