eliminating coolant expansion tank(why do we need it?)

[Rabbit16v@attbi.com (Rabbit16v)]

Well, yeah, how else?  Man, at 34 I feel old because I remember when there
were no expansion tanks at all!  You release the pressure from the system
(very carefully and usually when cooled a bit unless your a little more
experienced) then check to see if it needs topping off.  Now, alot of the
non-expansion tank type radiators had a small hose that came off of the neck
of the filler (or somewhere on the top of the radiator) and went into a
bottle filled with coolant so that if it needed to spit some out it could
through the hose but since the hose would be emerged into the coolant at all
times (supposedly) then if it needed coolant (usually through expansion)
then it would suck it out via vacuum.  I'm not absolutely sure about the
MK2s but I am pretty sure that all Rabbits, Jettas, pickups, and MK1
sciroccos came with a spot on the passenger side fender well (in the engine
compartment) where this is suppose to go.  There is a possibility
(especially on earlier cars) that the U.S. cooling systems were different
than the rest of the worlds.

BUT, to answer your question, Mr. Reed, I don't see why there would be any
problem with transferring your vehicle to a non expansion tank cooling
system if it's done right.  Most of our motors that we run in our cars today
were run without an expansion tank in the earlier years.  As for the larger
engines we have today, just look at the big Cadillac 500CI motors back in
the 60's and 70's, they didn't have an expansion tank system so I think we
could run our little 1.8L or 2.0L motors without one fairly easily.

Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Morehead" <wolfsburg16v2k2@yahoo.com>
To: "list" <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 4:52 PM
Subject: RE: eliminating coolant expansion tank(why do we need it?)


>
> my question is: if you eliminate the tank completely how do you know the
level of your coolant? look in through the cap on the radiator?
> -tony
>  "T. Reed" <treed2@u.washington.edu> wrote:Here's all that I can
contribute.. on my brother's diesel rabbit (which
> has an expansion tank), the radiator blew and the only spare he had was
> from a car without an expansion tank. We tried to swap it in anyway, but
> there was no place to hook up the small diameter hose from the expansion
> tank to the radiator.
>
> Went to the local european parts house and it turns out they had a special
> aftermarket radiator cap that had a nipple on it for the small hose.
> Bought that and the setup works fine.. but now there are two places you
> can fill the coolant (in the radiator and in the expansion tank).
>
> I guess if you could find some way to connect the hose from the block
> (that normally goes to the bottom of the expansion tank) to that little
> nipple on the radiator cap, you could eliminate the expansion tank
> completely.
>
> -Toby
>
> On Fri, 21 Mar 2003, Scourge wrote:
>
> > Here's where I wanna step in too.....
> > My 82' has no expansion tank, I have the rad with the fill cap on it. I
recall a few months ago someone was talking about switching away from this.
wasn't there an extra line that went around the block you'd have to
change??? (I really have no idea what I'm talking about, lol) Anyways, my
reason for asking, when I swap in my JH, will I have to change anything to
keep this style rad? Or will it just match up with all the coolant hoses I
already have?
> >
> > TIA
> >
> > -The George
> >
> >
> >
> > ohh!!
> >
> > Im gonna follow this thread, sounds very interesting if possible.
> >
> >
> > Josh Able
> > www.JsHouseOfEuro.com
> > Secure online checkout
> > "S" airdams available
> > 87 Scirocco 1.8t 20v
> > 83 Caddy
> > 82 Caddy
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Robbie Cotner
> > To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 4:46 PM
> > Subject: eliminating coolant expansion tank(why do we need it?)
> >
> >
> > Hey all, I'm on a mission to clean up my engine compartement. I was
thinking of all the different places I could move the expansion tank, but no
w I'm thinking of maybe just getting an early Jetta type radiator(with the
cap on the radiator) and eliminating the expansion tank altogether. What
would the disadvantages of this be? Would it work to just pop in the jetta
rad, and block off the big lower expansion tank hose? Thanks-
> >
> > Rob
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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