What is the best way of cleaning out the cooling system which now has oil in it. The oil may well have got in there when i stupidly forgot to replace the oil filler cap after id topped up on a short journey. or may well be the head gasket/water gasket has gone I am off to TSR next wednesday for a port and polished head and while they are at it some 272 newman cams:-) anyway whats the best way of getting the oil out of the cooling system am i best to try and do it before i take it there or let them do their stuff then do it? What products would you use? Any help is greatly appreciated Thanks Joe
this is quite often down to oil cooler failure, bypass it for now. drain the water, flush it, then refill with plain water and a cup of bio washing poweder. run it doign the usual bleed procedure till thermostat opens and let coolant circulate thru the rad for a bit. then switch off and allow to cool. flush it out again and repeat till oil is gone
Thanks for the tip with the bio washing powder! Shouldnet be the oil cooler just replaced that about 2 months ago, but i have noticed a hose has split connecting to it so a new one has just been ordered from VW so ill fit that tomorrow and try the bio washing powder. silly question does it make any difference what powder non bio, bio or can i even use vanish!? Thanks Joe
dunno about vanish, i just used whatever washing powder was under the sink was it a genuine oil cooler, and did you replace it becasue it failed before? could be it let oil into water
Replaced it as i was doing a few bits like the water pump anyway and the old one had corroded. Its from Murrays in Hatfield so wont be genuine VAG but all his stuff is as good as really he always has the febi bilstein, lemforder, beru brands etc Ill have to get some powder only have the gels here and vanish haha Joe
Or liquid dishwasher cleaner - its quite a powerful de-greaser, warm up and let it circulate (it sees very hot water temps in a dishwasher) and leave overnight - it cleans stuff very well......................... ...................and you`ll have a nice perfumed system too
I've also heard of calgon being used to help clean the system. Its probably not as good as a bio powder at degreasing oil though, probably more for de-scaling but I assume all the above are safe options designed to work with rubber seals and gaskets etc.
I'd be careful using any soap based product in there without well flushing afterwards several times one thing to note, draining the system when hot can hurt and putting cold water in a hot engine could cause all sorts of other issues I use a VW product on the final flush for good clean out, and it mixes with the pink G12 ++, comes in 5/6 litre container and safe to run around with for couple days providing it's not freezing temps
