H/gasket, Blockage, Air Lock ?

[cartman]

Well, pretty much as in the title. Initially had a leak in rad and mechanic thought system was pressurising too much so added some K-Seal !

 

All seemed good for a couple of weeks or so (though I didn't do much driving), Now, I start off with water level at the minimum mark on expansion bottle and the front heater blows nice and warm, However Rear compartment heater blows cold ! Then after a few miles driving especially up a hill or similar stress the heaters will go cold and the temp will later rise...usually I can back off and the temp will come back to normal 90 degrees, but not heaters. But when I stop (and with the engine still running) carefully undo the expansion bottle it will spit some water out (Though not particularly hot water and not a lot neither) But the water level is now at the height of the filler spout and stays there.

 

Then after turning the engine off the level remains at that level until a very long time after, like an hour or so ??

 

Now I have changed the thermostat and once while the engine was running with the cap off a film off the foam from the K-Seal covered the filler hole on the bottle and stayed there for a good while, so I'm not sure its a H/Gasket ???

 

Seems like these cars are prone to silly faults like this, so does anyone have any ideas as to what to do next ?

 

Oh and btw no chips or tuning and have had the car 4 years now.

 

Thanks for any input.

[tara]

Had same problem when i purchased my 2001 1.9tdi gal. Recon head and new gasket everything sorted.

[daddyfixit]

how about water pump impellor fallen off ??? engine would heat up quick as no water gets circulated, but standing still it would also overheat and push water out the top ??

 

do some searching on here and i hope its only the pump

[cartman]

Wow, thanks for the speedy replies.

 

Tara,

Had same problem when i purchased my 2001 1.9tdi gal. Recon head and new gasket everything sorted.

 

Was dreading that response and the mechanic did hint at it, thing is with the air con not working and other jobs that need doing I'm not sure I want to throw anymore money at it. What didn't make sense though was the water level staying high even with the cap removed.

 

daddyfixit,

how about water pump impellor fallen off ??? engine would heat up quick as no water gets circulated, but standing still it would also overheat and push water out the top ??

 

do some searching on here and i hope its only the pump

 

Doh,I should have checked for that when I changed the thermostat, I may as well take out the stat and check the impellor is fixed, Maybe even run the car without stat too in the hope it flushes any gunk through.

 

Looks like a new car may be on the horizon lol.....Shame though.

[Sher]

If you can get warm water into the heater matrix then yourpump is working.

 

If the system is pressurized after the engine has cooled down then gases have entered from the combustion chambers.

 

Oil in the water is unlikely as the oil passages looked to be outside of the water passages.

 

Pretty certain it is the head gasket.

 

Common, I think, as an eventual result of failed water pump causing overheating

 

or

 

Remember we had a VERY cold winter -18C in my area. Usually our (UK) antifreeze strength is not really enough to prevent freezing at that Temperature.