[urq] general overheating question

Fri Aug 16 13:51:00 PDT 2013

So now they use friggin plastic impellors do they .
Looks like the "german tech guy's "  don't learn .
On the contrary .

Reminds me of the crappy distributor gears used on the 3B and 7A engines .
Plastic would desintegrate , distrubutor would lose sync , engine failed   .
No spare parts obtaniable , only the entire dizzy , at top prices naturally 
.

Lucky you found the problem , and even more lucky you're able to repair it 
yourself .

Pat

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Keith" <spotatashleys at hotmail.com>
To: <urq at audifans.com>
Sent: Friday, August 16, 2013 10:09 PM
Subject: Re: [urq] general overheating question

> Many thanks for all the suggestions and advice. Following day one 
> (henceforth regarded as a "clutching at straws day") when I made the 
> posting seeking your help and guidance, I continued to investigate and 
> discovered the following: -
> Fitted brand new reservoir cap
> Ran car up to 90c and over.
> Coolant reservoir contents remained cold. (opened this with engine stopped
> and dipped finger but whilst gauge showing car to be overheating )
> Top hose was hot.
> Hose from coolant reservoir down to bottom of rad/bottom hose was cold.
> Radiator felt cold
> Water hoses to oil cooler were hot.
> No coolant loss during these tests.
> No water returning to the reservoir via the small bore pipe.
> Still no heat at all from heater/climate control.
>
> Then following much research on the net which only sought to confuse 
> because of conflicting opinions on symptoms/causes and the fact that many 
> helpful videos are for the A4 with the 1.8T or the A6 with V6's or V8s 
> none for the A6 with the 1.8T, I gave up, weeded the garden and mulled it 
> all over.
> Today I dived in and started with the thermostat...took out the old one 
> (which is less than a year old), tested it in a saucepan. It opened as it 
> should at 87C. But as luck would have it, if you have a long enough 
> fingers you can feel the water pump impellor through the thermostat 
> aperture (after having removed the thermostat). If you can turn or move 
> the impellor it is kaput. Mine felt as though it has fallen to pieces. So 
> at least I now know what the problem is. I hope it has not seriously 
> broken up and sent bits around the motor.
> I've been and bought a new water pump, this time with a metal rather than 
> plastic impellor) and timing belt kit (tensioner and idler etc) and have 
> started to make my way in towards the water pump. Nothing has given itself 
> up easily so far. I never thought I'd say this but in comparison, I now 
> see the urq is a joy to work on. In many ways "progress" in cleverly 
> packaging engine bay components has become inverted. I guess all is fine 
> as long as nothing goes wrong.
>
> Thanks again for the help. I really appreciate it.
> All the best
>
> Keith
>
> '87 WR  which has been great in getting to the motor factors for the A6 
> bits.....sunny day, shades, fast car, Fabulous Thunderbirds on the 
> player.... not so bad after all eh? Time for a beer.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Keith
> Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 6:20 PM
> To: urq at audifans.com
> Subject: [urq] general overheating question
>
> Evening All
>
> Apologies for this being a bit off (urq) topic but I could really do with 
> a bit of general diagnostic help with an overheating issue on our Audi A6 
> 1.8t (2001).
> The symptoms are:
> Sudden overheating issue.
> No steam
> No bursts
> The coolant level had dropped a little but there were no obvious leaks 
> although there was some coolant on the lip of the coolant reservoir 
> suggesting that this might have blown out past cap through overheating. 
> The low coolant level alarm sounded when this all occurred which drew my 
> attention to the temp gauge. Got towed home to hopefully now fix it.
> The oil seemed to have got hotter than normal too.
> Bought new filler cap to rule this out.
> Then.....
> Starting from cold, it rises very quickly to 90c (normal operating temp), 
> hangs there for a bit and then goes on rising.
> Viscous fan and electric fan both working fine and when they are supposed 
> to.
> Heater just blows cold air even when overheating.
> Whipped plugs out – all normal colour.
> Tops of pistons look normal – no evidence of steam washing.
> No obvious evidence of oil in water or water in oil.
> Engine starts fine and runs as smooth as normal.
> Thermostat is less than 12 months old. Changed when previously car was not 
> getting warm!
>
> My two main suspects are thermostat despite it being almost new and water 
> pump.
> Have I overlooked anything simple and blindingly obvious?
> Before I start taking it all apart though, what can I do to narrow this 
> down to the the definite culprit?
> I really need to fix this by Monday when I have to use it for work (no 
> pressure eh?) so any suggestions of next steps will be greatly appreciated 
> (as always).
> Cheers folks. Will look forward to hearing from you.
>
> Keith
> ‘87 WR
>
>
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