EJ25 in VW T3, Overheats on first start-up.... Airlocks?

[Axispowers]

Hi Chaps
Can see the light & the end of a very long & dark tunnel but drove van for first time today.
It over-heated.
Engine was working fine when I took it out of car 3 months back.
Thought I had bleed rad correctly, just cracked bleed nut until coolant came out (should I remove)
Rad never got hot or even warm. Fan came on (ECU controlled) Temp gauge went to top & water nearly boiled.
What should I do with cab heater controls? At moment open on hot.
There is a very smal chance I got the big (front to back) coolant hoses swapped around. Would this cause a problem? What way should it be?
Any help/advice appreciated
Karl
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VW T3 camper awaiting Sumo power!!

[obi1robi]

try it without the thermostat..my engine wasn't happy til i relocated the stat to the top/front
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scotty give me warp speed

[Kai]

Would be best if you could describe or even better a diagram of your coolant system.

Your rad should still work just not very well. How does you rad loose air?? Self bleeding or bleed valve?

There is a simple self bleeding coolant diagram on ere.

Hopefully ES will be along with it.



Oh yeah and congratulations


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Think......

Don't sleep and drive!!!

[ElusiveStranger]

How've you set it up?

Hopefully you've done it like the one on RJES site. If not, sketch summat in paint (or similar)

Cab heater's should never be shut down. Did you make a bypass? That can help

I've found after the initial bleed that you have to get it up to temp, then floor it a few times from stationary to get the final bits of air out of the system.
My main "lock" is on the return from the rad (underfloor) to the stat housing - when you squish the pipe you can tell there's air in it. If I could be arsed I'd make a bleed point. But once it's bleed she's happy as Larry
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The advice you receive on here is worth the paper it's written on.
Your experiences are worth shed loads to others, including the f'ups - live and learn.
Wouldn't YOU rather learn by someone else's mistakes? So would they.

'78 Bay, 2 litre 091 box, EJ20 NA & the ashtray's on the 'right' side.
I don't lean forward for hills any more
Bugger, missed out on "Live fast, die young"

[Griff71]

Axis we need to know what system you are using. EJ25 into T3 you probably have exactly same set up as me. Did you get your parts from RJES? Even if you didn't i would check rjes.com and look at Riches cooling diagram and check yours is correct.

After refilling my system I find it will overheat until i have driven it around a few times and attempted to get more and more coolant in. Try taking the header tank cap off, then take the bleed screw completely out of the top of the rad. Stick some windscreen washer pipe in a bucket of water/coolant on the roof. Suck on it until coolant flows and fill system this way. Once hearder tank overflows refit cap and once rad overflows refit screw. Drive it! rev it! Allow to cool and the repeat procedure. It does work. Also what Rich from RJES suggests.

If you still have issues you may have heard that EJ25 engines can be prone to head gasket failure. Don't worry this is not an overly hard job. To check for failure i purchased a block tester kit off ebay as it will confirm instantly if you have an issue. Unless you have typical white gunk in the oil but mine did not have this yet i did have a problem.

Most importantly don't lose hope. This conversion in T3 is amazing so keep with it!

Keep us posted.

Griff
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89 Crew Cab (Subaru 2.5na)
71 Drag Bug (1955cc dual 40s)
65 Ragtop Bug (low & stock)

[Axispowers]

Hi Chaps.
I'm back. Long story but I'm finally ables to give this project some more time & money. For the past year van has been sat in nice dry rent-free unit, but now kicked out & that has also given me a kick up the arse!!

Over-heating was caused by head-gasket!!

So £600 poorer, head gaskets are renewed.
Coolant is all bleed up.

But still runs like poo. Okay, problems........

Its a 2001/2002 EJ25 SOHC engine.
Twin Lambda sensors.
First (before cat) fitted.
Second (after cat) not. Lambda broken when bought.) How do I place/fit this one? (No cat now fitted) What type lambda do I need/year/motor? Hoping to get one off a breaker on ebay, don't want do spend another £90 on that!!!

Other concern before I get into serious driving is oil levels. I've cut down & winged sump but would feel a whole lot better with extra oil loop/cooler (don't think I really need cooler just the extra oil of the piping) Any good kits out there?

Cheers Guys.
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VW T3 camper awaiting Sumo power!!

[Griff71]

Glad you got the overheating sorted.

For the record mine ran like crap when i snagged my lambda sensor wires. I know others have mentioned they haven't refitted them but it certainly affected mine. Get this sorted first and go from there.

A few other issues i have had which turned out to be a simple fix but made the motor run like a bag of nails so just ask if the problems persist.

I'm looking at chopping my sump next so what have you done. Are you running the RJES engine mount? If so could you post/send a pic of your winged sump.
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89 Crew Cab (Subaru 2.5na)
71 Drag Bug (1955cc dual 40s)
65 Ragtop Bug (low & stock)

[Axispowers]

Didn't use RJES bar, made my own reusing the original Subaru support.

I sliced & reused the very bottom of sump to create a well, as I didn't like the idea of a flat bottomed sump.....







Fitted with standard exhaust..... (which will get changed to RJES manifolds on day)


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VW T3 camper awaiting Sumo power!!

[Griff71]

Thanks for the pics. Will be doing something similar i think. Nice work.
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89 Crew Cab (Subaru 2.5na)
71 Drag Bug (1955cc dual 40s)
65 Ragtop Bug (low & stock)