Had a small leak from expansion cap now it's all gone wrong

Hello all,

I drove the cabby today, parked up and heard a bit of a hissing so I opened the bonnet to see that the expansion cap was leaking a bit of water. My mate was with me who's had a mk1 golf before (apparently) and said that it was the thermostat so we decided to take it out as I thought that waws the issue.

Well fast forward 10 mins, we find out that the thermostat isn't where he said it was (we took off the pipe that goes into the engine from the front (the one with 3 sensors on it, orange,grey and one on the bottom) so I put everything back together, bleed it and wait till tomorrow where I can go to my mates garage and sort it properly but this is where my problems begin.

The pipe we refitted is now leaking from the grey plug and the system isn't now bleeding, I drove it home, switched off the engine and all I can hear is boiling water and now I don't want to drive it anywhere.

Please help!

Update,

Changed fan switch and thermostat yesterday but had issues with bleeding system as it would keep on boiling over when the heater was in the 'hot' position, moving it to 'cold' allowed me to bleed system but I still don't think it was 100%, why did it keep boiling over?

Had a quick spin in her, went to my brothers after fitting the parts, then went to my mates then home so about a 8 mile round trip, all was good, I checked the fluid level - no problem but rad was seeping slightly from the bottom but nothing serious.

Went to get some fags last night, just as I was parking up the car dumped a load of water and steam was rising from the bonnet but I couldn't see anything so I left it till today.  No visible signs of damage but I'm presuming the rad took a turd so I'll be getting a new one tomorrow.

Also the temp sender to the dash doesn't work but I grounded the wire and I still get nothing, is there a common break in the wiring that I can check before I bell it out? It looks like a single yellow wire.

While I'm spending more money on her is there anything else that I should get?

I also replaced the vacuum pipes for silicone ones, if I fitted them the wrong way would it run hot?

im not 100% on this sort of thing mate, but i am sure one of the more knowledgable guys will be along soon :-)

Thanks mate, I hope so

it will boil if you leave it long enough without the header tank cap, so make sure you switch the engine off as soon as the level in the tank starts to rise.

first thing is fix all the leaks, get a new blue header tank cvap to start with, plus i would buy new front and side flanges if they're plastic, or just the seals if metal. same goes for the thermostat housing (this is located in the bottom of the waterpump FYI, follow the lower radiator hose)

get new seals for the sensors too, these are so cheap you may as well gsf used to sell them.

once thats all done, bleed it as per:
http://www.vwgolfmk2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=14913

Cheers RubJonny,

The thing is, is that I could hear it boiling even when the cap was on!

I've got a new blue cap now too and a radiator is now ordered, will check all the hoses now that there's no water in her.  Can you point out in a photo what flanges I should be looking for? I feel like a right twit, I've worked on norhing but injection engines and this is my first time with a carb and some of it has stumped me! It's a nice learning curve though.  

While I'm here I might as well ask, I have a stiff clutch and accelerator pedal, both are new but I've read that routing them wrong can make them go stiff but apart from that are there any other solutions?

Ta!

im on about the one on the front and side of the head, if they're metal keep em but clean up and buy new seals, if plastic bin and buy new. gsf will sell plastic ones

when you tighten up the metal ones alternate between the 2 bolts, i didnt and snapped one of the lugs off a cabby i was working on doh.

make sure you check the thin hose as per the guide, if that is clogged the system will be a real struggle to bleed, and make sure you leave heaters on hot too

for the pedals all you can do is try rerouting them, try a squirt of silicone sprtay lube down the end hold em up in the air so it works wits way down. the accellerator should be pretty light if it has a new cable, clutch will be heavy if its an old clutch. a new sachs clutch is quite light but still heavier than most modern cars.

fior the accellerator get underneath and look at the pedal arm, it should pull the cable straight out thru the hole in the bulkhead. if its off at an angle this will make it heavy and eventually damage the cable, so bend the pedal arm till its all nice and straight. then readjust it so that when pedal is flat to floor the throttle is just wide open. set it too tight and you'll just bend the pedal again

Thanks again for the advice!

I got a new rad, I went for the bigger one from a GTI, just swapped a few parts over and it fitted with minimal fuss, seriously guys, having the proper tool to undo those spring clips saves a shed load of time and swearing, I was done in 30 mins! I gave her another flush out just to make sure!

All seems to be fine, will check the level again in the morning and top up if necessary.

I also checked the  clutch and throttle cable, the clutch bulkhead has pulled through into the cabin and it's a right mess up there, twisted metal and perished rubber! Someone has bought the beefy plate but it's not even welded on, it just sits there and flaps about, there also looks like part of a thick rubber grommet sticking out of the hole but a lot of it is missing. I think I'll just buy a new one.

Accelerator - well, now, the pedal mechanism seems to be really stiff but the sqaure bracket thing that holds the pedal in is really loose but doesn't pull off, is this thing welded or is there a bolt? I couldn't see anything on the bulkhead engine side but I'll just spot weld it in if need be and not worry about it.

Plus I have some front end issues to sort, it feels very loose and wanders a bit on the road, will check it out.

My to do list is getting longer everyday!

do you mean the circlip on the end of the pedal shaft? if so those are a right git to unclip I feel your pain there.  you shouldnt need to remove the pedal though, just bend it straight and swap the cable. you might want a new pedal rubber, buy a mk2 golf one way cheaper and almost identical to the mk1. made of rubber too rathert than the rubbish foam stuff the original mk1 bush was

It's the part I have circled. It's really loose.

aha, there are 2 bushes there part number 823 721 543, but unfortunatly they are NLA. think you'll have to get on the wanted forum

same on mk1, cabrio and scirocco

It's the actual metal bracket that's loose and by the looks of it it's pulling the cable at an angle so it becomes stiff. I have a new cable to go in and ready to weld the bracket (plus re-do the beefed up clutch plate on the firewall) but I'm working all hours of the day and my work schedule is erratic at best so I'm having trouble finding the time to fix her. Also I'm not sure if the rad fan is kicking in. I thought I could smell the engine getting a bit hot but I can't hear the rad fan over the engine noise. Will jump the connections tomorrow just to make sure it's working.  I had the misfortune of having to unscrew the bonnet release mechanism to get to the No 1 fuse and now I can't screw the mechanism back on!
Shite!

So I'm driving her at the mo with a stiff clutch and a stiff accelerator pedal (my legs are getting a wicked workout by the way - way better than watching other blokes getting  sweaty at the gym) and I can hear some sort of funny noise - basically it sounds like the exhaust is blowing, I know what you're going to say but it's definitely not the exhaust!  Any suggestions?

ah i see! bit more involved then!

for the noise is it coming from near your feet? i find that 8v lumps tend to sound like the downpipe is blowing even though it is not, think its just the way they are. its annoying becasue you can only hear it when you're in the car, if someone drives past it sounds lovely or when you're underneath its not there either

Yeah it does sound like it's coming from the downpipe area, ah well I'll just have to put up with it!

Hopefully though tomorrow I can get some bits done, where is there coolant temp sensor located?

its the black sensor in one of the coolant flanges on head, red/yellow wire