MK1 Sauna

[McCosker]

I was driving my girlfriends Mk1 yesterday heading over to homebush/olympic park. Heaps of traffic, were stopped on the downramp to that crap roundabout near DFO. We could hear a bit of a hissing noise. 3 seconds later i realised what it would be. then tried to pull out of the traffic towards concord. About then in the traffic the heater core/hose just let go. i have never seen so much steam so quickly. the car was full in about 10 secs, i couldnt even see the dash.

So i was out the window seeing where to go and the girlfriend was getting sad real quick. I managed to get round the corner to a parking lot.
Lucky we weren't too far from a train station, went home got the mk4, some water and some tools. Fixed it in the dark in 10mins. I just looped it pipes so no water wouldnt enter the cabin. Started it up and it was running great.


Would have been really funny looking for everyone that was driving near us. There was just so much steam. I have missed having an old car, so in a weird way, this was kinda fun.

[Brisben]

I was driving my girlfriends Mk1 yesterday heading over to homebush/olympic park. Heaps of traffic, were stopped on the downramp to that crap roundabout near DFO. We could hear a bit of a hissing noise. 3 seconds later i realised what it would be. then tried to pull out of the traffic towards concord. About then in the traffic the heater core/hose just let go. i have never seen so much steam so quickly. the car was full in about 10 secs, i couldnt even see the dash.

So i was out the window seeing where to go and the girlfriend was getting sad real quick. I managed to get round the corner to a parking lot.
Lucky we weren't too far from a train station, went home got the mk4, some water and some tools. Fixed it in the dark in 10mins. I just looped it pipes so no water would enter the cabin. Started it up and it was running great.


Would have been really funny looking for everyone that was driving near us. There was just so much steam. I have missed having an old car, so in a weird way, this was kinda fun.

I used to have a Fiat Uno Turbo ie, that did the same although it was Christmas Eve and was in a multi storey car park, got towed home about 60k's with no heater, it was bloody freezing. I never even brough the xmas pressies I went for,

I was out there xmas day fixing her.

I loved that car, wish I still had it.

[K_Man]

Same kinda thing happened to me on Springvale rd during morning peak hour, i was in motion at the time though, gave it a quick squirt into the right hand turning lane and BANG! Hose leading to the heater core popped off, spontaneous coolant dump. Feel kinda bad for the brand new merc behind me being sprayed with my coolant cloud, but such is life Drove my now air cooled car back home which was down the road, 2 min to fix.

It's great fun having an old car, all these little issues just add to the character.

[greasykitchen]

Never had it happen and I don't think I want to. My old Beetle had 'character' (too much f***ing character, to paraphrase Spinal Tap) and it's not always endearing.

What exactly causes the heater core to pop and what can be done to prevent it? Just a matter of making sure the hoses and connections are good?

[McCosker]

I havn't looked to see if the core split, or if a hose started to come off or if a hose has a split in it.
The heater core may be blocked and that may have been causing pressure on it also.
The best way to prevent it as i see is to just not have the heater connected, but that may not be everyones cup of tea.

I might have a look this arvo to see what happened, I doubt it was a hose popped off, as there wasnt a sudden rush of water being pumped in. Im thinking its a split hose most likely.

[Peter Jones]

The Heater core has plastic header tanks at each end.

They are attached to the core by aluminium 'fingers' crimped over, around the edge of the tank.

The tanks are sealed by a rubber gasket.

In my experience, The gasket, after being compressed for 30 years just doesn't seal any more.

Last time it happened I pulled the core apart by carefuly unbending the fingers, cleaned out the core and re-sealed the ends using silastic before re-crimping the end tanks with a bench vice. I let the silastic dry before a week before I pressure tested it. (Block off one side and connect the other side to the garden tap. Use lots of hose clamps. If you get wet you've done it wrong!)

A year later and still no leaks.

A new one from our friends at http://www.germanautoparts.com would of course be the idel solution (Don't forget that you need to search under rabbit - there are no Mk 1 'Golfs' in the US)


Pete

[greasykitchen]

Thanks guys.

Excuse my ignorance, but where would I find the heater core?

I had some dodgy hoses professionally replaced a year or so ago, and no leaks, drop in coolant level, and the engine even runs cooler. All good signs?

Oh, and McCosker, I hope you have yours sorted quickly/cheaply (and sorry for hijacking the thread ).

Cheers
Stephen

[McCosker]

The heater core is under the middle of the dash, if you sit in the car passenger side and look under the dash you should be able to see the hoses running into it and one end of the core.

I had a bit of a look last night and i figure its somthing to do with the core, either cracked end, end split from core, or cracked core, but either way im far too unmotivated to pull something out that will most likely not get used. So atleast for now its just going to stay looped in the engine bay.
Sydney doesnt get too cold, so the heater isnt really needed, I didnt have a heater in my 67 datsun and it used to get to -6oC at night where i lived. So its practially warm all the time here.