[Vwdiesel] Broken Radiator Nipple Update

Dave Cook davevw at yahoo.com
Mon Aug 30 09:54:38 PDT 2010


Wow, it seems like this job is just fraught with stupid things going wrong...

I got everything put back together.  I used super glue to hold the nipple in place, then used some "Steel Weld" epoxy that I had in the garage, claimed to work on plastic.  I used a healthy bead around the nipple, and wrapped it up on top of the end cap and such to give it something good to grab to.

After the stated cure time, I filled the car with some water (I intend to flush the system in the near future) and started it up.  It didn't start easily but started.  I went to check the timing since the timing belt was replaced in all this.  I couldn't see the timing marks, but eventually got it to where they showed up and the engine seemed to run better.  

So I drove it around the block.  No power.  I realized that I had unplugged the hall sender to loosen the distributor bolt so I wouldn't break that too and that it might have been unpluged while timing the engine.  So I loosened the bolt again and made sure the sensor was plugged in and went to adjust the timing. 

As a safety precaution to my hands, I unplugged the rad fan so it wouldn't turn on and require me to get more stitches... 

During this time, the engine got hot and a bunch of coolant pushed out of the cap!  

In all this, the repaired nipple didn't leak!

However, I noticed radiator end tank was leaking a smidgen, right where it is clamped to the radiator.

So I will be replacing it in the near future anyway.  

I do think it will be ok for a bit though until I get the funds rounded up.  
Dave Cook





      



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