[Vwdiesel] Overheating 81 Rabbit & diesel vs. air cooled

[Sandy Cameron]

A little earlier this spring I was having trouble with the 87 TD
overheating. It seemed to com on over a couple of weeks and quickly got
worse, so I could only drive about 40 mph/70kph without the guage starting
to climb quickly.

I hate doing thermostats on A2s with PS. All that bracketry!

Got the stat out and cooked it in a pot. It opened around 95c, I looked at
it closely and noticed it was a 90 degree stat. never saw one before. It was
a genuine 4circle stat, and seemed to open ok, but I thought 'this event is
not yet concluded'.
After all,  from idle to 40mph, the temp was being regulated at the center
of the guage as always. Heater is probably taking care of the cooling there.
Stuck in a new 87c stat (behr?).

Bottom rad hose is already off, so out she comes. This car has been mine
since 1990 (360,000 km ago) and I have never used cornflakes in the radiator
(or banannas in the tranny), but when I started to flush the rad, gobs of
slime came out into the sink. Mea culpa. I have from time to time re-used
used antifreeze, although I usually filter it first.

I think The AF must have been breaking down into slime (non visible in the
reservoir). After a thorough reverse flushing with hot water and buttoning
the system up, refilled it with expensive orange antifreeze & 50/50
distilled water. took it for a drive. guage never went over the LED. Hauled
1/4 ton of firewiood in the big trailer, still stayed cool. 

That radiator is an effective strainer (until it is completely plugged) and
seems to gather the solids in its core. Periodic flushing is recommended,
and dont re-use antifreeze.

Sandy