Air lock question

[RJDubya]

So, yesterday a plastic pipe snapped off the top of the radiator and i lost a load of coolant. It was the pipe between the top corner of the rad and the header tank. I think ive fixed it (apoxy right round it until hard, complete botch!) but since i've never flushed the system i was wondering if this may cause an air lock and if so how is best to check/get rid of this? Currently have the car running and am checking the header intermittently which the level was going down in but seems to be constant now.

[kentiiboii]

The exact same pipe was snapped on my dturbo when I bought it. Someone bodged it with fibre glass. That cracked so I bodged it again with glue. New rad going on on Thursday.

I remember with my 1.4 to flush the system you wanna put a half cut coca cola bottle in the tank fill it up with coolant so the water lever is higher than the car. Then there's a bleed nipple on the heater matrix pipes undo that till water comes out. Then there's another on the thermostat housing.

[RJDubya]

To be honest im only botching this until i can find/afford another rad to go on. How long did yours last with glue? Mine lasted exactly 37 minutes running before it started leaking again, just put some superglue on, if this doesnt work im gonna melt it back together!

[kentiiboii]

Well I think person before used a smaller pipe as it slotted inside the rad a bit. I used propper plastic glue from B&Q £5. Lasted a week! Still holding on now! But it leaks a tiny bit.

[ginge191]

run the engine, let it warm up, follow the coolant pipes around the block, starting from the rad exit all around the block, matrix etc, and make sure that it is flowing round. if at any point you find there's a lack of warmth/flow then an air lock is possible. Overheating also is a sign of an airlock.

I dont know a sure way to physically check for air locks in systems utnil something goes wrong (as above, checking the pipes can prevent something going wrong)

hope this helps..

[Tom]

Read throught this thread bud
http://306oc.co.uk/forum/thread-8845.html

Should clear up most of it

[RJDubya]

Thanks guys, I found the bleed points but the 1 by the heater matrix doesn't produce any coolant when I open it, I think this is blocked. The temp gauge goes to just above 70 when idling and the heaters work. Doesn't raise much when I'm gunning it either. Will keep an eye on this for now and rethink if/when it starts to leak again, so far so good!
What's the difference between rads for cost? They seen to range from 45 to 130 for a standard rad, is it just Copper vs aluminium core?

[Tom]

Sounds more like thermostat if your not getting upto temp

[RJDubya]

Should it be higher than this then? Its reading the same as its ever and its never been an issue.

[Tom]

It wont become an issue, lots of people will say its fine to be lower because its cold atm, but personally the thermostat is there to keep the car at a certain temperature, Does it take ages to warm up aswell?

[kentiiboii]

Diesels sit at about 70-80 so your temp is fine... Did thou try the coke bottle trick? Works fine for me.

[RJDubya]

Yeah I tried the coke bottle trick, had the engine revving for a while to try to get more pressure but still nothing came through, will try out again tomorrow now I've had the car running around for a bit it might change.

The car does seem slow to warm up but that could be the weather, if its still bothering me at the weekend I'll take the stat out and check it opens at temp. Thanks again guys

[Tom]

For the 4quid just replace it definately sounds on the way out to me..