[Public-List] A4 overheating

[Gordon Laco]

Thanks George

Where did you insert the coat hanger wire? 

G

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 12, 2011, at 11:33 AM, George Dinwiddie <gdinwiddie at alberg30.org> wrote:

> Gord,
> 
> On 7/12/11 9:12 AM, Gordon Laco wrote:
>> Hi gang
>> 
>> Surprise is on day four of a very nice cruise in company with friends
>> who sail a Columbia 29.   Their A4 is overheating and we are towing
>> them a lot.   It has a new water pump that throws lots of water, and
>> the thermostat was already removed... Not much water is coming out
>> their exhaust compared to ours
>> 
>> I noticed in the thermostat housing there's lots of rust flakes.  We
>> removed them but guess lots more is blocking the cooling jackets.
>> 
>> Is there a way to reverse the water flow in hopes of moving the rust
>> flakes?
> 
> I know from experience that the water passage in the exhaust manifold tends to flake off in pieces big enough to intermittently block the outlet. It's very frustrating, because you think you've got it cleared, but the next time you use it, it overheats again.
> 
> I've found two techniques that help:
> 
> I've used a 1/8" tubing on a set of reducers down from a garden hose to backflush the cooling passage.  On my manifold, the inlet from the engine was a bigger hole than the outlet, so blocking off the outlet and putting some fairly-high pressure turbulent water flushed a lot of rust flakes back uphill and out the inlet.  Messy, but fun. You could probably, in many cases, just pump water into the outlet (with the inlet free), but the tubing allowed me to clear out the corners.
> 
> Sometimes the flakes are too big to easily move.  Putting a straightened coat-hanger or a short length of rigging wire on an electric drill, and letting that "whop around" inside the manifold water passage, seems to break up the flakes enough that they can be flushed out.
> 
> Hope that helps,
>  George
> 
> P.S. Tell them to sail. I learned to be a much better sailor the summer I was first chasing this problem. I had to be.
> 
> -- 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>  When I remember bygone days                         George Dinwiddie
>  I think how evening follows morn;            gdinwiddie at alberg30.org
>  So many I loved were not yet dead,           http://www.Alberg30.org
>  So many I love were not yet born.                          also see:
>               'The Middle' by Ogden Nash     http://idiacomputing.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> These businesses support your Association:
> http://www.alberg30.org/store/A30supporters.html
> Please support them.
> _______________________________________________
> Public-List mailing list
> Public-List at lists.alberg30.org
> http://lists.alberg30.org/listinfo.cgi/public-list-alberg30.org

 1310553799.0