NOTE: "Here, pal, turn the crank with this breaker bar while I pressurize a cylinder with compressed air" sounds way too much like negligent homicide in progress.

Just sayin'.

 

...................

 

I also forgot to mention my plumber had a similar issue with his Mitsubishi to where, under no load conditions (cruising highway speeds on flat ground) he had no issues while, only when under loading uphill, it would overheat and, he'd lose coolant. This went on for a month or longer. He'd taken it to a few shops that told him it was a leaking gasket and this and that and the other thing. In the end, it turned out to be that he had lost the spring inside the radiator cap. Root cause was simply a bad radiator cap.

CM

 

I wish it were something that simple. Honestly, it's been driving me bat-shiat crazy. When I returned from the VW show in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, back in August, I was going to stop at Sonic for something to drink when my son asked how the temperature was doing. The damned thing was climbing to 240º, so I high tailed it out of the drive-thru and went straight home (10 miles) with the heater going full blast. That got the temp back down to a little over 200º. I stopped and popped the hood so it would cool off more effectively and noted that the overflow had been spewing coolant. The next day I put most all of the overflow back into the radiator along with ½-gallon of coolant.

 

Try getting a cold air intake from afe itll lower your egine temperture!

http://www.afeintakestore.com/home.aspx

 

hahahaha!!!! VW is gonna tell you that you're going to smoke a turd in hell for that one.

 

Well, in that case, I would start to look for internal problems if all the simple stuff was already gone over. Internal leaks are a b-i-t-c-h to root out. But, with time, go through each cylinder one at a time and check for leaks. About 15 psi should suffice. You can buy a spark plug adapter fitting that will allow you to input compressed air into the chamber. You can either hit the starter or, simply use a 1/2 inch drive attached to the crank pulley to rotate the motor. You may want to remove the valve covers though so you can see the lifters as a visual guide of how far you've got to rotate the engine in order to obtain a complete stroke of each piston.

CM

 

Didn't Hey You have this problem and he found out it was a bad freeze plug?

 

I'll have to PM him. That would be sweet if it were; however, I almost doubt it. No signs of leakage, plus I went with brass core plugs for the rebuild.

 

Yeah, my temp gauge would do really rude and strange things, I was losing coolant, and no where could I find a leak. There were no puddles on the ground, ever..... Just mystery coolant loss, and a funky temp gauge. Until....... the leak got bad enough that it actually showed up. Got home one day, walked inside to drop off some stuff, cruised back out to the truck, and lo and behold, a PUDDLE! Right under the drivers side engine mount. replaced the freeze plug, and so far....... seems to have solved the problem. I don't put a lot of miles on my truck, even though it is my DD, I just don't drive every day....... (it may sit for a week at a time.) From all appearances though, that seems to have solved the problems.

You can pick up a pressure tester pretty cheap at most parts stores, pull the radiator cap, run the engine up to operating temp...... (might toss some coolant when the stat opens, be warned.....) THEN put the pressure tester on there, pump it up to 15 pounds, (engine off) and watch the gauge, see what happens.

If you have an internal leak, yes, that is going to be a real drag to find.......