Been Sat For A Year! Starter?

[Guest myrichdad]

Hiya guys, hope you are all well.

 

Been a whilke since I've been on. Crashed the little baby and thought i;d take the opportunity to do the bits and pieces that need doing aswell as replace broken headlight etc.

 

Anyway a year later - 1 or 2 of the jobs are done, but she hasn't run at all.....

 

one of the reasons i forgot the immobiliser when we tried to bump start her the other day (no luck - obviuosly!!!) Had to laugh when I remembered.

 

Appear now to have some charge in the battery but starter motor just making clicking sound and nothing else happens (dash lights do go down/off)

 

Is that just the battery is now s*it from sitting aroound or some other starter problem (which would be a bit annoying as it was new a year ago and virtually zero miles since then....but hey)

 

Done search on here and haynes but can't see this symptom. Please help.

 

Ta.

 

Kev.

[Guest rick03054]

Appear now to have some charge in the battery but starter motor just making clicking sound and nothing else happens (dash lights do go down/off)

 

Your battery will be completely flat, especially if it's been sat unused for a year!

 

Do you have access to a charger? if so charge it up overnight and try again. Or try jump starting it.

[Guest myrichdad]

On charge as we speak, but not drawing much current.

 

I am guessing it may be fcuked.

 

Is the clicking just not having enough charge to do anything else then or another porblem?

 

Kev.

[huxley309 0]

sounds like a knackered battery to me

[Guest rick03054]

They don't take much charge when they're really flat, leave it overnight and it should be ok.

 

When the battery is flat enough to make the dash lights dim the starter just makes a rapid clicking noise and not much else happens.

[ORB 227 1 Cars]

just not enough beans in the battery to get the motor turning so the starter just clicks.

 

Try jumping it with leads.

[Guest myrichdad]

ok leads tommorow! - cheers - then new battery i guess...will let you know. thanks for the help.

[richard 0]

one thing you might want to do is put a small (i do mean small)amount of oil into the bores before you turn it over. (remove spark plug)

 

They'll be no oil at all in anywhere of that engine so to minimise the amount of startup wear i'd advise this.

 

You might want to also remove the LT lead on the coil and turn it over a few times to give it chance to get some oil pressure into the engine as well.

Then connect it back up when you're ready to fire it up.

[Guest myrichdad]

Richard thanks mate....but unfortunately i read it after trying it.. oh well hopefully not too much wear / damage done..

 

socharged over night, but just stuck the jump leads on from the audi.

 

turned straight away, and with a bit of time started up YIPPEE!

 

so need to check battery on its own at another point ...but in the mean time......

 

mlet it run for a while and moved to a better spot on the drive.

 

then opened the bonnet back up to check all was well. Which it wasn't.

 

Water was flowing out of the pressure release / overflow part of the coolant filler bottle. hot water everywhere. i turned off the engine and water continued to stream out. loosened the cap which made it worse so screwed back on and waited to subside......

 

What causes that then? Spring on the cap seems stong so i would say genuinely too much pressure but why - just overfilled? there was bugger all in it the other day when i started looking at her so i put water in.....

 

at a loss. never ever seen that before on anyones car - or hear of it.

 

HELP!

 

Kev.

[welshpug 1,657]

if there was bugger all in there you may have had an airlock, which when heated expands rapidly, and when it reaches a certain pressure the expansion tank cap lets go.

[richard 0]

Put more coolant in, up to around 1/4 of the expansion tank, then without putting the cap back on let the engine run. Remember to have the heater on as well. This will in most cases get rid of any air locks. Another thing you might need to do is take the rad out and replace it or at the least give it a damn good clean through.

Personally i wouldnt recommend driving it anywhere with the cap off either.

[Guest myrichdad]

phew that would be a relief, so whats the best way to release the airlock - do i have to drain it down?

[ORB 227 1 Cars]

Here is what i did with the one that i got that had sat for three years in a garden

 

- Off with the bottom hose

- loads of rusty water and crap pours out

- Hose pipe into the header tank and left to run till water is clear

- Off with the hose that connects to the thermostat

- Hose pipe into that hose and run water throug for a few mins

- Do it again for good measure

 

 

THEN

 

 

- Reconnect all the pipes that have been taken off

- Mix up uncle freeze and water and pour into the header till full

- remove the bleed hose caps from the pipes hear the fire wall

- keep adding water till it is pouring out of the bleed caps and tighten them back up

- Top up header

- Fire up motor with the heaters on full bore on hot.

- Watch the temp guage and keep an eye on the header

- add water as required till it settles down.

 

 

Done

 

 

Any LITTLE leaks can be sorted with radweld, but i personaly would prefer to change any broken parts with new bits as radweld can gum up your matrix.

 

Easy eh

[Guest myrichdad]

thanks - tommorow mornings job is clear!!

 

thanks - tommorow mornings job is clear!!

[richard 0]

And before you've done that, change the engine oil. The amount of moisture that will have got into the oil will have seriously degraded its lubricating properties.

[Guest myrichdad]

Ok I've done this a few times now...as soon as it gets decently warm it lets go....I've filled it really gently with blead screw open too....still the same...

 

However. not sure if fans kicking in so that would make it blow anyhow wouldn't it...

 

Water temp gauge (top right of dash) not really moving up to the second line... Oil temp going up to line before red....

 

scratching head at the mo.

Edited September 21, 2006 by myrichdad

[Guest myrichdad]

Any ideas guys? My father in law has suggested head gasket failure blowing exhaust gases into coolant system....what do you think?

[richard 0]

it is what im thinking to be honest, could be a water pump failure causing hot spots in the cooling system...the pressure will find its way out somewhere.

 

You should be able to smell exhaust fumes from the expansion tank if it is the head gasket. Theres also a test kit you can buy to check the gasses being emitted into the cooling system.

 

Bit stumped myself to be honest.

[steve@cornwall 100]

wasn't parked up with pure water (no anti freeze) for coolant was it? seems to pretty convincingly oxidise the h/g

[Guest myrichdad]

ah fcuk - yes it probably will have been - been leaking for ages before I replaced bottom metal pipe last year and only been sticking water in it........cos it was using so much.....didn't plan to leave it not running....

 

aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhh

 

how big a job is the head gasket?

[futura 3]

It's a bit of a pain as you need the right tools such as a torque wrench. You need to get inlet and exchaust manifolds out. Exhaust manifold bolts never come out easy and often break inside the cylinder head, and you need to remove the timing belt.

[welshpug 1,657]

easy peasy on an 8v

 

exhaust manifold is a piece of piddle as you can reach it from above and its on nuts not bolts.

intake is even easier.

 

r/h rngine mount will have to come off to access the belt.

 

list of parts req - Headgasket, timing belt, water pump (unless known to be in good condition, only £18) headbolts, inlet and exhaust manifold gaskets, timing belt tensioner pulleys.

[Guest myrichdad]

how much for bits do you reckon?

[gti_al 1]

I would be slightly concerned about the state of the insides if it has been sat with water in it... Maybe rip the head off and decide whether it is worth fixing?

 

I've got some pics somewhere of the inside of my old engine. It was pretty nasty in there, as it had been left with tap water in it for 12 months... To fix that would have required a full rebuild, so i just dropped another engine in. (which was much easier than removing the head - maybe just do this to start with? )

 

Good luck.

[Guest myrichdad]

OK.....Where to start. Had her running again today and with the heater on and the interioir fans on...she doesn't boil over....

 

so...if head gaskett is looking unlikely as A) she runs and B)she doesn't boil over if heat is taken away.

 

Water is definately moving through to the radiator as I have a slight leak at the bottom hose/metal pipe join that gets much worse as temp goes up....so I assume therefore thermostat valve is working.

 

BUT fans not kicking in at all.

now they wouldn't with heater on full but when you turn that down or off they don't either

 

Also water temp gauge only goes up to second line.

 

I think the fuse for the fans is in the engine bay by the rad - but those 2 are both fine.

 

SO dodgy thermoswitch in radiator? OR I have got this all wrong....

 

Let me know.

 

PS Just got an oil filler pipe etc off ebay for 17 quid.