Coolant Leak

From the pic, it's obvious where the leak is… My question is does anyone have any experience of resolving this? My fear is that that bolt is not gonna come out easily and might snap… Any top tips will be welcome…1990 Clipper

Plenty of soaking in Plusgas, and being very carful undoing the bolt.
Not sure if you can as the coolant will also get hot but try warming the engine a little then loosen the bolt a little then let it cool down then remove the bolt.
1 of mine snapped when I tried to get mine out so had to drill the bolt and re tap the head.
Don't just undo the bolt straight off, if it starts to get stiff do the bolt up a little then undo it, this will clear the thread of the bolt. It only a thin bolt so should not be done up very tight.
There is an rubber O ring behind that flange.
Try and fit new bolts and I smeared mine in copper grease to stop them rusting in.

Cheers Mark1gls

Use only a 6pt socket, and be careful…
If it snaps then you could try using left handed drill bits and a reversible drill in reverse, but you have to center punch the bolt and soak it in a penetrating oil.  Google Left-Handed Drill bits, use a smaller than the bolt bit.

Those Plastic flanges are the PITS and a Large PITA.

You can change it out with a Metal Flange off the old school engines ie: 83.  You would need to change the CTS sensor out with a 16V one, and the water temp would go with the single pin black Sender as well.

I have a "I HATE PLASTIC PARTS THREAD" that shows and explains it.
If you don't have a VW installed oil cooler then you can't use the outlet off a 84-89 unless you plug off the 2 hose ports.

I still hate plastic parts, but thanks Tolusina. | VW Vortex - Volkswagen Forum

 

Briano a US/euro spec PL 16v ecu cts is no good on a carby engine that thread is for digifant 8v engines, the same white CTS is used for the ECU on pre-88 mk2 digifant engines. here we didnt get that CTS for the 16v either as they are all basic kjet here

Anyway to fit a front metal flange on a carb engien with the original 2e2 carb you need flange part number 026121133C, plus 2 threaded thermoswitches for the inlet and autochoke heaters. They are fitted to mk1 cab, rocco and mk2 up to 86/87, part numbers are 035919369B and 035919369C. Then you got to cut all the sensor plugs off and crimp spades on

if its a weber a bit easier though as you only need the 1 thermoswitch for the inlet heater, and even then you may find its fine without anyway in the uk climate

I agree the plastic flanges do warp with age but its a lot of hassle and expense to replace the front flange with a metal flange than it is to just change it for a new good quality plastic type which will last another 10 years or so

Thanks all.
I now need to find a window of opportunity to take the job on… Not easy when it's my daily…I suspect a few 'issues' will arise.
Cars eh!
Thanks again.

rubjonny said

Anyway to fit a front metal flange on a carb engien with the original 2e2 carb you need flange part number 026121133C, plus 2 threaded thermoswitches for the inlet and autochoke heaters. They are fitted to mk1 cab, rocco and mk2 up to 86/87, part numbers are 035919369B and 035919369C. Then you got to cut all the sensor plugs off and crimp spades on

rubjonny said

I agree the plastic flanges do warp with age but its a lot of hassle and expense to replace the front flange with a metal flange than it is to just change it for a new good quality plastic type which will last another 10 years or so

Over here on this side of the pond, I was lucky to get 7-8 months out of the things…. Cheap "chinese" made German Boxed parts.  I did find that I could get one "made in Ireland" that lasted about a year.

A lot of this is due to failure of design, HOT liquids and Plastic.  The engine vibrating on the axis pulls on the upper Radiator Hose, and that tug of war weakens the hot plastic at the ears.  Poor thinking of a cost reduced accountant.  I have 2 Cabriolets, and usually bought 2 every year of ownership, I also had a spare on the shelf.

Spec'ing out the sensors that I needed took a bit, and it was 50 bucks each to replace instead of the 12-25 dollars for the "plastic" kit, over the last couple of years I have saved a few quid, and not had that sitting as a time bomb.  Yes your sensors are different, and you may have to cut and use wire ends, the piece of mind I have that I have only 2 plastic parts left on my cars cooling system is worth it.  

Now that I have found a totally aluminum Radiator for about the cost of a plastic/aluminum one I may choose to upgrade that in the future.  My Original 81 blew the radiator at 20098 miles, and VW would warranty it as I was 98 miles over,  regardless of the fact that I had to drive 98 miles to the Dealer….. So I bought a Brass and Copper one for 30 dollars less, and it lasted well over 300K and 19 years.  MY 2 cents.

aye getting quality made plastic flanges is key, I have had years of life out of the plastic flanges I have bought for my mk1 cabrio, my 1.6 driver and my current MK2 GTI (with all 4 engines its had fitted ) after all the original ones fitted from the factory have lasted near 20 years!

I only buy german made aftermarket or preferably genuine parts which makes all the difference. preparation of the cylinder head before you replace them is also very important, scrape off any crusty deposits, smooth off then fill any pitting and only then, fit your new flange.

as it turns out VW still stock the plastic carb front flange, its 037121132B and is only 13.94+VAT so crazy not to go genuine

I'd also buy the side flange while you're there as its usually not far behind the front one, this is also available part number is 026121144E at 8.07+VAT

thermostat flange is 055121121F at 9.16+VAT if you fancy doign that as well.

of course if you can get alloy versions then great, go for it, just they can be tricky/expensive to find and then you have to replace all the thermoswitches/sensors that are fitted to them. Main thing to watch out for with these is that you tighten the fixings gradually to avoid snapping off the tabs, which sound advice for all types of flange actually.

I do actually have an alloy thermostat flange which I salvaged from one of the donor engines included with my carbio project, and its been moved to all of the engines I've fitted to my mk2 ever since.This one especially benefits from the alloy part as its quite a large hole, and a right pain in the rear to change if it leaks. At least with the 2 uppers they aren't so bad to swap later on

Nightmare dude… do as soon as possible!!! i had a similar issue unbeknown to me from when i bought the car in June '14.. it became a bad bad issue about a year ago now!!! various things led me to finding out about it.. all evolved around a cold start issue, replaced the TTS & while doing this, not even torqued up to recommended nm, the coolant flange cracked!! so had a major issue in getting a new one for the GTI with 3 outlets on it as the later spec GTI got the oil cooler… anyway, managed to source an original coolant flange from the States! so on changing this, 10mm bolts, drained the system first (lower rad pipe) top bolt came undone fine, the lower right broke off - very easy! nightmare, knackered bolt in the Head!!!
Tried reverse drill or left hand drill bit, soaked with Plusgas, didn't work, tried my patience!! so i got some liquid metal, drilled with a 6mm bit & filled. left it to settle for a day (apparently doesn't take long to harden in warm conditions) Next day I had to remove the radiator cowling to get a drill into the head, then with a steady hand, re-tap the hole with 6x1 thread. the bolts are fine pitch 10x1, once done fitted a helicoil! made the head was smooth, very light sand/rub, cotton buds sprayed with WD40 & poked in the head threads to clean & soak, fitted the new Coolant flange & 'O' ring on!! One of the trickiest jobs i've done! bricking it!!  looking at the receipts i had with the car, somebody had 'sealed the coolant flange' yeh with blo0dy window sealer or something!!!! so prior to me buying the car, it had leaked into the Warm Up Regulator too which was causing my cold start up issues & fuel pressure running the car!!! so i had to deal with that as well!!!! soooooo going back to the beginning, get the leak sorted as soon as possible…
I'll copy the links shortly…

http://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&type=misc&id=big-block-injection_2%2Fcold-start-splutter-for&start=120&kfs76=120
 

cheers chaps - I'm not looking forward to this!