Overheated now overheating mk1 Storm

[sanjay529]

Had a bit of a disaster yesterday. While driving home in a monsoon last night my battery light came on. I soon realised I had lost my aux belt and was worried I was going to get stuck in the monsoon once my battery had drained. I was just a mile from home so thought I'd try and make it. I was distracted by this and totally forgot that I had also lost my water pump so the car started to get very hot. When I realised the temp gauge was on max and I was on my road so quickly stopped. I was worried that I had done some serious damage, but couldn't see anything obvious under the bonnet. After it cooled down, I started it for about 10 secs just to see if it was ok and all seemed fine.

I put a new belt on today and started it. It is now making a horrible squeaking noise which gets worse as the revs increase and it is also overheating. Am I right to think the water pump has broken and it causing both of these problems? The car sounds fine without the aux belt on. Also noticed the valve cover gasket has started leaking, pretty sure this was fine before. Have I boiled the oil so it needs changing now too? Not happy. Things started going bad on the weekend, when I turn left and the steering wheel is in the 10 o'clock position the horn beeps! That was pretty annoying, then the belt thing happened. Not a good few days.

[Nate]

the belt probably broke because of the cause of the squeaking noise. turn the alternator and water pump pulleys by hand, you'll probably be able to tell which it is.

yes, your oil leak may have been caused, or at least worsened by the excessive temperature

yes, you would be sensible to do an oil and filter change. also keep a close eye on the coolant level for a while, just to make sure there's no HG problems coming...

[marcus]

The squeaking noise could just be the belt, you may not have tensioned it sufficiently when replacing it.

[ianaudia4]

I would be looking at changing the complete water pump, fitting the rubber rocker cover gasket, New coolant and fresh oil and filter. Older VW's are renouned for squealing aux belts when they are not adjusted correctly and damp conditions.
Ref your horn going off when you turn the wheel, I had this issue a couple of years ago on my Scala, changed the relay and has been fine since.

[sanjay529]

I have watched the pulley and belt when revving for the squeal sound and the belt is not slipping. The old one probably was and that's why I lost it. I think its the water pump as it would explain why its overheating now with the new belt on, but never heard a pump make this noise before. Sounds just like a slipping belt but def not that.

Grr, I just changed the oil and filter last month! Just bought some coolant and was planning on changing that next. I think I will need a new pump at the same time.

[mark1gls]

Also worth fitting a new thermostat and seal (seal should come with the thermostat but check) while your at it, they are not that expensive.

[volkswalker]

And if the worst happens ive got a perfect running 1598cc that ive
Just removed from my 79 gls with box attached.
£100

[james butler]

Definitely change oil! It goes really thin and looses its viscosity permenantly when it gets too hot.
This will in turn cause leaks you never had before. I had the same thing happen two years ago.
Belt snapped but carried on to safety about 2 miles and the engine overheated.
In the end I changed the oil and filter, the coolant + thermostat and most of the o rings that perished from the heat.
The actual engine itself didn't seem to have suffered at all. But as has been said keep an eye on your fluid levels for a couple of weeks incase any gaskets have started leaking.

[sanjay529]

Looks like I'm going to have a busy weekend! I'm really annoyed because this was the driest old VW block I had ever seen, whereas my MK1 Golf was the wettest when I had it! So far my change list is:

Oil and filter - despite being new, grr!
Water pump - I haven't investigated further but it must be making that noise and they are cheap anyway
Coolant and thermostat - was going to do this anyway
Rocker cover gasket and studs to rubber one - planned on doing this only if I had a problem as it was bone dry and didn't want to disturb it, grr again!
Seal above oil filter - its was all crusty which seemed to have built up enough to clog the slight leak, but now it is visibly wet
Horn relay

After my short test drive after fitting the new belt, when I found it was still overheating, I checked under the oil cap and it was still nice and oily with no sign of mayonnaise. So I am hoping the head gasket will be fine. The previous excellent condition of the engine couldn't let me justify an engine conversion, but if it needs some serious work then I think I will be going that route instead. Also the water hoses seemed to be dry so that is looking positive as well. Fingers crossed! I really just want it running as it was before.

[sanjay529]

PS. How much coolant do these take? Someone has converted mine to an earlier style radiator that you fill from the top rather than the one with the expansion tank like later cars should have. I would like to change this back as being able to monitor the level from the tank is so much easier as well as being the correct one for the car, so if anyone has the parts that I need to do this I would be interested.

[TheMoleKing]

I can't help you with the parts I'm afraid, however I did recently flush the coolant out of my GT2 and replace with this awesome stuff:

http://www.sciroccoregisterforum.co.uk/ ... 29&t=14137

It took just over 5 litres, maybe 6 in total?