(OT) Jetta coolant: where is it going?

[greg.rocco at gmail.com (Greg Pallett)]

My coolant leak has been traced to a leaky hose, with a pinhole in it.
 At first it was only a fine mist, but now it's getting significant.
I'm gonna hazard this repair myself; the bently makes it look easy.
The part I'd like to know more about is the refilling the system with
coolant.  I've read about various tricks to getting all the air out of
the system, and that trapped air bubbles are a real hassle.
Anyone got some advice for me?
(yes, I really am this much of a mechanical noob!)

GP


On 3/31/06, Greg Pallett <greg.rocco@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The car: 91 Jetta Carat with 200k original motor, never opened up.
>
> The symptoms: WHen I bought the car I didn't check the coolant level. The
> car basically sat for 2 months while I got it fixed up for MD registration.
> While pokign around under the hood I noticed it was low on coolant, so I
> added some to bring it back to th elevel in the overflow bottle. After
> registering it yesterday (yippie!) and putting about 100 miles on it just
> driving around, this evening drove off the coolant light was flashing. Pop
> thehood, no coolant in the overflow bottle. Nothing on the ground or
> dripping under the hood when I parked it.
>
> Other considerations: New T-stat, waterpump and heatercore since I bought
> it. The oil is clean, not foamy.  There was *once* white smoke when I
> started it after it had sat a few days, but not again since then.  The
> system seems to be pressurizing; when I opened the coolant resivoir I could
> hear the pressure letting off.
>
>
> I'm afraid of the answer. The car dosen't run hot, but have I blown a
> headgasket?
>
>
>
>
> --
> Aronsons First Law
> People who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy


--
84 Scirocco Wolfsberg - The Red Baron aka Weekend FunWagen
91 Jetta - Still needs a name aka DailyBattleWagen