niceflipflop
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I just inherited a D2 (2001, but only 56k) a few weeks ago and I'm faced with my first real repair...
The other day on a cold morning, I started it up and let it sit in the driveway for a few minutes to warm up, with the heat on. I ended up taking longer than expected to get out of the house, so it warmed up for a full 15 minutes before I left. At the end of my street, I noticed that it was just cool air coming out of the vents and then I suddenly noticed the overheat light on. So I immediately turned off the heat and the needle dropped almost instantly to normal.
I kept moving to where I was going and after a few minutes of the needle staying at low-to-normal range, I turned the heat back on and finally, some warm air. Needle stayed normal.
Got home and checked the coolant...bone dry. So went and picked up some more coolant (green, not Dex, couldn't find it) and filled it to cold level. Then ran it for a bit and the reservoir emptied. Must have really been low. So added some more. Because I'd also been hearing the waterfall lately, I decided to also do my best to bleed it. So i gently opened the (old style) bleed screw and let the air out. Then started to tighten back and SURPRISE, it sheared off.
I knew I couldn't leave the inner portion of the valve in there, so I went ahead and removed the upper hose and thankfully, the other part fell out cleanly. No wonder it sheared...the whole thing was really corroded.
Here's what I did...
I glued the screw cap back onto the valve seat using Loctite gel then wrapped the whole thing with several layers of Loctite self-fusing tape (see pic). Put the hose back on, hoisted the reservoir up high, topped-off, ran the engine for a bit with the cap off and the heater on max, then topped off again. Everything seems fine. Running cool and getting good heat and no waterfall sounds.
I can't get the new hoses in from Atlantic British until after the holidays at this point. Will my fix suffice for the next several days? Or should I take it to a mechanic to see if he can do a more robust temp fix? Maybe have him just replace with a fresh generic hose today until I can get the right one?
FYI...those are just rain drops in the front.
Oh, and yes I realize that the larger issue here is that I'm likely losing coolant somewhere. Which is what I was focused on until the screw broke. No noticeable leaks anywhere (tho now I'm thinking that maybe the bleeder screw was the culprit, but seems unlikely). Oil looks normal. No froth. But there is some white smoke exhausting. Not much, but enough to concern me. I'm definitely going to have someone pressure test it. But again, unlikely to happen until after the holidays.
The other day on a cold morning, I started it up and let it sit in the driveway for a few minutes to warm up, with the heat on. I ended up taking longer than expected to get out of the house, so it warmed up for a full 15 minutes before I left. At the end of my street, I noticed that it was just cool air coming out of the vents and then I suddenly noticed the overheat light on. So I immediately turned off the heat and the needle dropped almost instantly to normal.
I kept moving to where I was going and after a few minutes of the needle staying at low-to-normal range, I turned the heat back on and finally, some warm air. Needle stayed normal.
Got home and checked the coolant...bone dry. So went and picked up some more coolant (green, not Dex, couldn't find it) and filled it to cold level. Then ran it for a bit and the reservoir emptied. Must have really been low. So added some more. Because I'd also been hearing the waterfall lately, I decided to also do my best to bleed it. So i gently opened the (old style) bleed screw and let the air out. Then started to tighten back and SURPRISE, it sheared off.
I knew I couldn't leave the inner portion of the valve in there, so I went ahead and removed the upper hose and thankfully, the other part fell out cleanly. No wonder it sheared...the whole thing was really corroded.
Here's what I did...
I glued the screw cap back onto the valve seat using Loctite gel then wrapped the whole thing with several layers of Loctite self-fusing tape (see pic). Put the hose back on, hoisted the reservoir up high, topped-off, ran the engine for a bit with the cap off and the heater on max, then topped off again. Everything seems fine. Running cool and getting good heat and no waterfall sounds.
I can't get the new hoses in from Atlantic British until after the holidays at this point. Will my fix suffice for the next several days? Or should I take it to a mechanic to see if he can do a more robust temp fix? Maybe have him just replace with a fresh generic hose today until I can get the right one?
FYI...those are just rain drops in the front.
Oh, and yes I realize that the larger issue here is that I'm likely losing coolant somewhere. Which is what I was focused on until the screw broke. No noticeable leaks anywhere (tho now I'm thinking that maybe the bleeder screw was the culprit, but seems unlikely). Oil looks normal. No froth. But there is some white smoke exhausting. Not much, but enough to concern me. I'm definitely going to have someone pressure test it. But again, unlikely to happen until after the holidays.
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