Coolant system went pop

Ah when you're driving home after a long day and you notice your engine temp going through the roof.  Sender broken, coolant tank empty, got to a garage sharpish and filled the coolant tank back up.  Tank remained full until I'm 10 mins down the road and it went again.  Inched it home with lots of stops.  So now I need to fix it myself or call out a mobile mechanic, questions to you all:

1.) Is this a viable home repair for someone who has only replaced the headlights on their mk1 before and hasn't touched anything pipe related? what are the steps to do this?

2.) if 1 is viable, what parts would you recommend I purchase, given I don't know where the leak is, I'm guessing I might as well replace all the usual suspects so I'm not chasing the leak around

3.) Given I had to drive it home for about 15 minutes (with regular stops to let it cool down) what kind of damage could have occurred to the engine that I need to get checked

Thanks chaps

Richard

Hi Richard

If it's just the broken sender that caused the leak, then that's all you need to replace so easy fix.

Which sender was it?

Mark at Classic-VW will help you out for parts

If you weren't driving the engine with temp gauge in the red and it boiling then hopefully there's no other damage. Worst case is you've don'e your head gasket but hopefully that wont happen

Oh the sender was broken but the coolant tank itself was completely empty, topped it up, all leaked out again, so was driving with no coolant and things getting hot.

You need to find the leak to fix it don't just start replacing hoses etc which don't need replacing unless you want to?
Fill the system back up and run the engine till you find the leak.
The hardest thing about changing the hoses is getting the old one off as they have a sprung clip which needs squeezing to remove, I use a pipe wrench or mole grips to undo mine and a little twist to get the old hose off. You may have jubilee clips fitted if the hoses have been changed before.

also if it was completly empty when you topped it up you may have just released an air leak after you drove it for a bit
http://www.vwgolfmk2.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=14913

All sorted, the water pump had died quite viciously, that's been replaced. I also seem to have a hole in my radiator, oh well, there's the beer money for March

That is one thing I hate about the VW, and Oldsmobile water pumps… The Weep hole is on the top.
The last two I replaced I didn't know it until I saw steam and flowing fluids out of the water pump.

For weeks I had looked all over for my leak, and even with a UV light couldn't find it….
It appears that the leak was dribbling out hitting the back side of the pulley and scattering to the wind.

On my Olds I was 300 miles from home in a State Park for a wedding…. no tools.. I had to buy 30 dollars in tools, to replace a 20 dollar pump… In the dark, Pouring, Drenching Rain… After the Wedding and Prior to the Dinner…..

Now be sure that your new pump has a metal impeller.

Over hear we now have available Solid Aluminum Radiators Available. Not the Plastic/Aluminum ones….
When my Diesel had 20,009 miles on it, yep 9 miles out of warranty the Radiator ripped up the tanks both sides.
Fortunately for me my Radiator guy had a Solid Brass/Copper replacement for 30 dollars less than the dealer…
I never ever had any further Radiator issues with that.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALUMINUM-ALLOY-RADIATOR-VW-GOLF-RABBIT-SCIROCCO-GTI-MK1-MK2-8V-M-T-/290949383895

It isn't that much more than the Standard Radiator, and all metal…. (I HATE PLASTIC PARTS).