Late Intro to My New Car (Mk1.5 Turbo) - Picture Heavy!

[tommundy]

So, after a little hissy fit a month or so ago, which I think I tracked down to a faulty main coolant hose, and after waiting nearly a month for the stupidly folded hose bought from Halfords to straighten itself out and my diary align itself, I reminded myself of the fun and games of bleeding the Mk1 coolant system.



Here's the raggedy old hose; yikes! It wasn't so much leaking, as seaping, but just glad it didn't cause anymore damage thanks partially to luck and my quick reactions when it overheated.



For what should have been a quick job, turned into a medly of swear words and running back and forth for the different tools. The reason being that the jubilee clip on the top joint of the hose was pointing up... directly underneath the main inlet pipe to the turbo, which itself is below an intertwining mixture of 5 or 6 other coolant and air pipes. Where's a 6mm spanner when you need it!?

Anyway, the job was finally done, and the new hose fitted. Then we went onto the bleed process, and again the battle with a modified car where the charge cooler hoses run up the right hand side of the radiator right where the bleed nipple is. This turned what should have been a 30 second job of attaching a plastic hose onto a nipple into a 15 minute huff fest, haha. The heater matrix hose went on easily enough, so we were off to the races with the bleed routine.



With that done as per the manual, I packed away the tools and tentatively went for a test drive. The standard mk1 coolant system is totally overkill for the standard 4AGE, and usually sufficient for the 3SGTE engine in mine, but it's still that double edged sword of going on boost to build the temperature and check for air pockets, and see that the thermostat is doing its job vs going into a compelte meltdown.

Thankfully the shake down went well, with a few stop offs in laybys to check the thermostat had opened and the radiator pipes were getting warm as they should. After that, a bit of boost as a treat on the way home. After 9 years off the road, I still need a lot of time with the Mk1.5 to get used to the power. 4th gear is an absolute monster, and anything below that is a wild blink of an eye.

It may be a bit crusty around the corners, but I'm not letting this one go without a fight after having it for 13+ years.

Loads more jobs on the cards, so watch this space.