Overheating Please Help! :( - 1.6 AEH -

[GoldA3]

I recently bought my car off a genuine guy and everything seemed ok. It heated up and stayed at the 90 degrees perfect. Last month i noticed it didnt warm up so i thought id change the thermostat thinking it could be faulty.

No change after the thermostat, i checked the oil and there was a slight cream on the oil cap and i immidietly thought the head gasket, so i did i compression test found the compression was right down so i repaced the gasket and got the cylinder head skimmed.

Gave everything a good clean, new oil, new coolant, new gaskets on the exhaust maifold, and the top of the head and gave the valves a thourugh clean with new seals.

Fired her up, everything was fine, warmed up great exept when i reversed it off the drive it overheated. It went over 100, then to 110 degrees as i went down the road.

Im really struggling now and have put a lot of cash into it and just need her sorting.

Any ideas or anyone experinced the same?

Cheers

[kenney]

Hi Are you sure you have not got an air lock?

[GoldA3]

Nope i doubt it as i flushed it all out, coolant pipes with a small drain rod. filled it up andleft it for ages running to get the air out the system.
Im baffled mate.

[kenney]

What happens when you let it idle does the fan activate when the temp reaches 95degrees?

[GoldA3]

no it doesnt kick in at all, ive checked the current to the fan and its fine but it doesnt seem to work unless i bypass the switch with a wire, could be a faulty switch, do you knowif it something i can repace easily?

[kenney]

Hi The first you need to determine is if the coolant is circulating,when the engine is warm on the verge of overheating check the temp of the upper and lower radiator hoses,if they both are the same temerature (hot) then that would indicate a faulty thermo switch,they are easy to replace.Looking back at your first post it was because you could not get the temp up you replaced the head gasket,and now it is over heating are you sure you have not done something wrong?

[GoldA3]

took it to a mate works for a vw speciaist, he checked the car over and concluded that the thermostat wasnt opening. took the thermostat out and wired the fan up ran it took it on a drive last nite and she didnt overheat.
so really need a new thermostat and sort the fan out. i can sort the thermostat out but im struggleing with the fan, it doesnt switch on at all. will it just need a new switch?

[Crasher]

So you didn't find out why the head gasket failed. You changed the cam belt I hope? Do the words "water" and "pump" ring a bell?

[maxlbrown]

I would go with crasher as well get the water pump checked also as mine went south ealier this year.


My tech said he had never come across a pump where the impellor span on its own axle Nomally the impellor breaks up inside the engine. luckily it did not take out the Cam belt as well as the drive shaft was aprtially siezed.

M

[Crasher]

Water pump plastic impeller failure (either cracking or spinning on the shaft) is a very common problem, if he had not seen it before he doesn’t work on many modern VAG cars.