Blank off water return feed from carb intake mani -- HELP

[TinTin]

Hi Guys,

As the topic states -- due to old age, the "nipple" on the carb intake mani that accepts the pipe that circulates the water out of the intake manifold has broken off causing all the coolant to leak out resulting in the motor almost over heating. luckily i caught it in time.

I have spoken to a couple guys in the know and they confirm that i can in fact just blank off this return hole by tapping a thread and bolting it up with some thread tape. Has anyone had any experience with the. Also what is the function of the water running through the intake mani? Does it just assist with cold starts?

Thanks -

[Torker]

It's more for heating than cooling, prevents the carb icing up in the colder European climates. Perfectly safe to block it off.

[-=sT3V3=-]

I did it on my 1300 motor by tapping and blocking the feed which is covered by the intake manifold with a grubb screw. if I recall i used a 1/8" bsp thread.

[THANAS]

It's the same as the water circulation through the TB that comes on the import motors. Tap a thread and put in a screw. Or just seal it up with some ABE epoxy, that stuff is HARD. It should be more than fine, water pressure is nowhere near oil pressure etc.

[TinTin]

Thanks for the confirmation guys.

If ABE Epoxy will work with the temperatures around that area -- it will be an easier fix than the tapping route.

What ya think?

[zain_c]

[THANAS]

That is a good point. I think the maximum temp it can withstand is around 90 degrees.

[missioner]

That is a good point. I think the maximum temp it can withstand is around 90 degrees.

Temps on the intake manifold exceed 100° in summer especially with the exhaust so close.

If you close the port on the head it should give you the result you want without hassle. Just tap a small Welsh plug into the hole.

[TinTin]

i would like to fix the problem with out taking the intake mani off. The picture above was swiped from Google images!

If i can't get the tapping process right, i would like to glue a bolt into the hole as described above (black arrows in the picture) -- my concern is that if i use a product like ABE 372 epoxy,no1 heat and no2 expansion and contraction between hot and cold intake mani temps.

Your guys thoughts? I need to resolve this problem after work today.

thanks.

[-=sT3V3=-]

That brass nipple will be a press fit. If you twist and pull that out there should be a 11ishmm hole you could tap and put a bolt with ptfe tape or grub screw.

[THANAS]

The only solution I can see is a carb to FI conversion and an ABF with throttles, this efficiently solves the problem by deleting the intake manifold .

[missioner]

Don't tap a thread into the manifold unless you are installing a brass pipe fitting to keep the cooling system standard (ish). Rather remove the pipe and any left over metal and then tap in a Welsh plug.

[TinTin]

So i spent my Friday eve in my mechanic jeans (which haven't been worn since Zains 2.0 was built)

Quick Selfie

Managed to get the water system closed up nicely with no leaks (for now).





10 mm tap (R250.00 bucks later)


10mm stainless bolt with allen key head with some shilac and lock tite




then... leaking welsh plugs..



fixed:



Moral of the story -- Always run antifreeze mix

Since i have plugged the intake mani, the car seems to take a lot longer to warm up. The carb is not happy at low RPM.

The only solution I can see is a carb to FI conversion and an ABF with throttles, this efficiently solves the problem by deleting the intake manifold .

i think you may be right...

[TinTin]

Then new welsh plugs starting leaking so Pratley's Steel it was.

All good, no leaks for now.

[THANAS]

Are you sure you're not getting some compression into the cooling system? If you start the car with the coolant bottle open does it push any water out?

Welsh plugs are designed to leak to reduce pressure to save the block.

[TinTin]

Leaking welsh plugs in the water system does not work out well!

No water over flows from the bottle at idle, however, only if you rev it up and it's hot and on the deceleration of the motor the water pushes up a little. Constant revs it's ok.

Sho, 160 000 km on my previous golf with MPnaai and no problems. This golf has 120 000km on the clock, but was not maintained properly.

[THANAS]

Oh okay, cool then. Probably a bit of corrosion and additive buildup in the water channels/piping.

The real question is when are you getting in on the turbocharged action? Life is too short to drive slow, carburettor cars .

[manvsmachine]

This happened to me by the side of the road. As a temporary fix, I just hammered in a piece of stick that I tapered with a knife. It leaks very slowly, maybe one droplet every 5 minutes. I bet that you could plug it fully with a piece of tapered cork. It should not take more than a few minutes to do this.

[Merv78]

Hi guys, sorry I know this is an old post, but I am having this very issue right now on my 1991 1.8L Fox.
On Tuesday 31 May 2022, while driving I noticed what looked like smoke pouring out the engine bay.
This happened about 2Km from my home from cold start, so the heat gauge was still around 40 Degrees.
After pulling over and inspecting the engine bay I noticed it was steam and not smoke.
At first I could not make out from where the water was coming from, then I noticed that same Welch Plug was wet, then I noticed that same nipple had broken off as well.
It is really strange that the OP and I had the same things go wrong.
I live in GP so I always run anti freeze, recently did water pump, 90% of the hoses and radiator replacement as well, so this is very strange indeed.
I did a similar repair, except I used a 1/8 BSP tap and fitted a brass 1/8 BSP hose tail fitting into the hole with Loctite applied, to keep the return flow standard, I also wanted to replace the pipe which was still original VW Part number 027121056A, managed to get this pipe at GW Edenvale code A1324 Pipe Manifold VWM47 for R40, just incase anyone else needs to change this pipe.
DO NOT USE A METRIC 10mm TAP FOR A 1/8 BSP BRASS fitting or vice versa, make sure the TAP and Fitting, threads match before attempting this DIY repair.
The hassle now is I need to replace that Welch Plug as well.
I did buy the plugs, but was hoping the OP could give more info on how he went about tapping out the old plugs as the space is quite tight.
Fyi Pratley does not recommend applying Pratley Steel to items under constant Temperature above 90 degrees, so hopefully the OP fix stayed fixed, would like to know if it did, if I fail at removing this plug

[175SBU]

When my plugs went on my Jetta 2 the only way to reach them was to have the engine completely lifted from the bay otherwise there was no way to squeeze in anything in there to punch them out plus im thinking it would have been the same struggle to punch them back on if the engine was still in the bay.


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[Merv78]

When my plugs went on my Jetta 2 the only way to reach them was to have the engine completely lifted from the bay otherwise there was no way to squeeze in anything in there to punch them out plus im thinking it would have been the same struggle to punch them back on if the engine was still in the bay.


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The other option which he may have used would be to "stab it out" i.e. destroy the plug, as happens with the rear engine welch plugs, when they are difficult to tap out.

[VAG Fan]

I successfully removed one of those leaking Welsh plugs by drilling a pilot hole through it and screwing in a self-tapping screw with a flat head. Then adjusted the screw so that there's just enough space between the screw head and the shoulder of the manifold hole to apply a lever, in my case a pair of needle-nosed pliers. I then used the leverage of the pliers against the shoulder of the manifold to pull on the screw head, which pulled out the plug, one shot.

The manifold, by the way, was pitted, so simple fitment of a new plug would not have worked. After cleaning, I glued mine in with Pratley Steel. Still holding up about 10 years later...

[Merv78]

I successfully removed one of those leaking Welsh plugs by drilling a pilot hole through it and screwing in a self-tapping screw with a flat head. Then adjusted the screw so that there's just enough space between the screw head and the shoulder of the manifold hole to apply a lever, in my case a pair of needle-nosed pliers. I then used the leverage of the pliers against the shoulder of the manifold to pull on the screw head, which pulled out the plug, one shot.

The manifold, by the way, was pitted, so simple fitment of a new plug would not have worked. After cleaning, I glued mine in with Pratley Steel. Still holding up about 10 years later...

Thanks bud, I was thinking last night to fit a 13mm bolt, head first into the plug and apply Pratley Steel to it, and after 24 hours try to lever it out by tapping the, stud/thread, end with a hammer side to side, up and down, if a Pratley Steel fix can carry the weight of a bull dozer well it should be able to take a few hammer taps without breaking loose...

[VAG Fan]

Yes and no...
The bulldozer advert shows a straight, tensile force. But sideways tapping would apply a shear force. That will break a glue seam very easily. I'd be somewhat surprised if your proposed method works. (But never say never...)

[missioner]

I had a Welsh plug in the block of the 1300 motor that kept popping out. I replaced it twice and on the third time I glued it in with Pratleys. Last I saw it was still in with no hassles.

As far as removing the old plugs from the block goes, the side ones are easier as the exhaust manifold isn't covering the plugs as much, but it is possible to get to all of them with the engine in place. Punch a hole through the leaky plug and lever it out using screwdrivers and a small pry bar.

To install, I use a socket that fits snugly into the plug as a drift and hammer it into place. Use some RTV on the lip to help make it water tight and as lube to ease the insertion. If it seems loose then replace the RTV with steel epoxy

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