Garry 1 Posted August 22, 2008 When my 205 gets hot, ie up to temperature (80-90deg +) all of the coolant pipes get really hard as if they are under a fair bit of pressure. Which is either normal or my car is getting air locked. When cold the hoses are quite soft and you can feel the water in them. Is this normal? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James_R 3 Posted August 22, 2008 the only air left in the coolant system should be the air gap in the header tank, if it's soft would either mean the system isn't holding pressure, or there's more air in the system. I know it's a very obvious qustion have you have all the bleed screws open? and does the Rad still have the top hose to header tank? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C_W 3 1 Cars Posted August 22, 2008 Yep I would thinks as the sysem is pressurised - I wuold imagine an air lock in the system would actually mean the pipes would be softer as it'd compress easier? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pob 1 Posted August 22, 2008 (edited) When my 205 gets hot, ie up to temperature (80-90deg +) all of the coolant pipes get really hard as if they are under a fair bit of pressure. Which is either normal or my car is getting air locked. When cold the hoses are quite soft and you can feel the water in them. Is this normal? Its quite normal for a small amount of pressure to be in the system, if the pipe is near enough solid I'd say the system is being pressurised by a leaky head gasket. Is there fluctuations in the water temperature? Have you done anything with the cooling system to cause an air lock or has it happened all of a sudden? Dan Edited August 22, 2008 by Pob Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anthony 1,003 Posted August 22, 2008 Assuming they're the same as they were in Germany, they're fine and that's normal. Over-pressurised hoses due to failed headgaskets etc are pretty much solid. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garry 1 Posted August 22, 2008 Thanks for the responses. Yes I have the top hose to the header tank, even this gets quite hard. I have a sniffer test booked for tomorrow morning. The symptoms have been that the car will drive along fine, then suddenly the temerature will shoot up (past the last marker). I stop the car, let the air out of the bleed screw near the thermostat and all is well again. In some cases the rad has been cold which would suggest there is an airlock stopping the water getting through. When it does go hot, the heater blows cold, which would again suggest and airlock stopping flow. I was able to do a lap at a time at the ring last weekend, I thought I had solved the problem with my 'super' sealed header tank cap. I tried two laps on the trot as the temperature was stable, towards the end of the second lap the temperature shot up and there was nothing I could do to cool it down. Luckily I made it back, and the car is still running OK. On the way home from the 'ring I got to Spa where it started to get hot (about 1.5 hrs driving), I stopped, let the air out of the thermostat housing again and drove all the way back to Slough without a problem. It could either be a) Theses engines are really, really hard to bleed and the trapped air is working its way through or the Head gasket is starting to fail. On a further note I had a compression test a few weeks ago and it got 195 - 185 - 175 - 175 which I know is low and is a good indicator that its on its way out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
taylorspug 7 Posted August 22, 2008 The GTI6 engines can be a right arse to bleed, however i had exactly the ssame problem as you have described on my MI engine, would drive along fine, all of a sudden the temps would rise, heaters would go cold and id have to bleed the whole thing out. Within a month the headgasket was gone... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garry 1 Posted August 23, 2008 Sniffer test shows high hydrocarbons in the coolant So pretty sure the gasket is on its way, I will give Snetterton a go as its not far away, then start the whole build again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kyepan 291 Posted August 29, 2008 where can you get a sniffer test done? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
welshpug 1,657 Posted August 29, 2008 any garage with emissions testing equipment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BackStreetRacecars 3 Posted August 29, 2008 you can buy the kits off ebay!!! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SNAP-ON-MAC-TOOLS-BL...id=p3286.c0.m14 can usually get them cheaper than this tho.... this is just the first one i found Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
richard 0 Posted August 31, 2008 or if you are friendly with the garage, ask them to pop the sniffer into the coolant tank. They'll normally do it for free because it could lead to a bit of work for them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
