[Vwdiesel] Cracked Block? (fwd)

[Val Christian]

Gary,

I replaced the pump and housing, and was careful to clean off the crankcase
at the pumphousing seal point (with a razor).  Then I was careful in seating
the o-ring on the pump housing to block interface.

It wasn't mentioned in my first posting, but this situation was preceeded
by a thermostat failure.  The plate on the thermostat, which stops
recirculation of the cylinder head water through the block, therefore
forcing circulation through the radiator, failed.  Or rather the riveted
shaft holding it on failed.  After 2 years of use.  Stadt brand thermostat.
I was concerned that something may have caused the housing to crack.
Instead, what I think happened was that the waterpump was drawing against
a flow obscured by the plate nearly blocking the port to the impeller area.
Therefore, I elected to get a pump with housing, and go through the
additional disassembly.

The temperature gauge never made it to the top of the scale, but there
was loss of coolant the next day when I examined things in daylight.

Val



Forwarded message:
> From: "Gary, Orlando" <gbangs at cfl.rr.com>
>
> Val,
> Did you replace just the pump or the whole water pump assy?
>
> I ask because there is no water jacket between the pump itself and the
> crank. The water actually flows up through part of the housing to a
> point on the block just above the intermediate shaft. It seals there
> with an o-ring.
>
> Perhaps this seal is leaking or the housing has a crack.
>
> -Gary, Orlando
>
>
> On Sat, 2002-12-21 at 11:49, Val Christian wrote:
> > I have a 91 Jetta 1.6, with a coolant leak in the vicinity of the water
> > pump and the crankshaft.  I replaced the waterpump based upon the
> > mileage it had been in there (175k miles), but found that the old
> > pump appeared to be just fine.  With everything back together,
> > coolant poured into the engine, comes out near the area between the
> > waterpump and the crankshaft.
> >
> > There is no oil to coolant nor coolant to oil contamination, nor is
> > there any sign of burning coolant.  The head gasket seems just fine,
> > although I can't completely inspect the perimeter near the timing belt
> > area.
> >
> > At the time I replaced the water pump, I elected to also replace the
> > timing belt.  I looked for water leaks, and found none.  However, in
> > retrospect, there was warpage of the lower timing belt cover.  Perhaps
> > where the leak may be.
> >
> > Has anyone seen a block crack such as this?  Any insight or ideas to
> > share?
> >
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
>