VW GOLF V5 ~ Overheating + Stalling?

[artd3co]

Hi all.

I bought an 03 VW Golf V5 back in Feb....this follows on from having a Mk2 Driver, and a Mk 3 GTI 8v.

Overheating
Anyhow, recently (past 2 months) I have been having trouble with the engine overheating. It starts to overheat when travelling at steady/ low speeds, or when stuck in traffic, however, when travelling at motorway speeds the engine starts to cool down and maintains average temp - obviously this is indicated by the coolant temp gauge. I am starting to wander whether the fan may be at fault because the higher speeds + more air intake is the only thing cooling the engine down. Does this ring a bell to any other V5 owners? ALSO........

Stalling
.....recently (again) the engine has stalled on a number of occasions whilst the car has been stationary and idling. Whilst on this matter does anybody know what the car should be idling at - is it 900? At the moment it idles below this for some reason? Again, any help with the stalling problem would be appreciated.....could it be related to the overheating?

As mentioned above, I had a Mk3 Golf GTI (this is now run by my wife) up until Feb and that also had just started to stall intermittently - as is so common with this make it appears. So Its not hard to imagine how P@ssed off I was when my V5 sarted stalling. Thing is, we still haven't cured the GTI despite going through "the" list of possible culprits...crank, hall sensor, relay - fuel & ECU managment, etc, etc, etc. It makes me wander how generic these faults seem to be on the VW Golf - it really has knocked my confidence in VW - and thats all I've ever driven.

If nobody can help then i'm gonna go honda - Type R

[Boardboy]

Hi your overheating problem does sound like the fan not coming on. I've had a MKII and my girlfriend has a MKIII , so I can't say for sure if it's the same as your V5. But the cooling fan switch was located in the radiator body. If you take the plug off it and short the two connectors on the wire side it should tell you if it's the fan. If the fan works it could still be the switch on the radiator.
As for the stalling the MK III has never done it (oop's maybe I shouldn't have said that!) My MK II used to cut out sometimes when you pulled up to a junction. I used to remove the idle speed stabilisation valve and clean it with plus gas.
Regards Boardboy

[kelpy]

You should check the strip fuses on top of the battery it should be rated at 40amps if this has blown the cooling fans are suffering from high resistance on starting up and need to be replaced you can fit a 50amp fuse only temporary tho to check the operation of the fans and as for stalling you should try cleaning the throttle body chances are they will be thick with carbon build up but please dont bridge any wires for the cooling fans as they are ECU controlled

[Boardboy]

Sorry for the duff information. I didn't realise the fan was controlled by the ECU on your model.
Regards Boardboy

[artd3co]

Thanks both for your info. I was hoping that it was just going to be one of the fuses located on the battery, but swapped them around with no joy. (I'm not very technical so that was the only thing I could think of!!)

Because the fan is controlled by the ECU, does this mean that it is likely to be a faulty relay, or something similar?

I'm going to let a mechanic friend take a look at it soon - when time permits - so hopefully he can advise on what best to do.

As for the stalling.....yep...it is most probably the throttle body. As I mentioned on my original message, I've had ongoing troubles with my mk3 GTI (now belongs to my wife) - well, I sprayed a tin of Wynn's into the throttle body at the w/end, and cleaned up the hose and air intake housing and the stalling was cured in an instance.......with huge relief!!! I've replaced relays, sensors, leads, n all sorts, but it only took a £5 tin of Wynn's to solve the problem!! Will be doing the same to the V5 in the next day or two.

Any more info welcome

Cheers

Lee