jb9999

Someone on this forum was selling them for £15 (proper vw ones) not too long ago, have a look in the bits for sale bit. GSF do a one for £20ish, but they are no good if you have very recent magnicor leads.

Don't think it will come to that Matt. You pulled over as soon as it overheated so the engine should be fine. And to save another argument with MK3Anni, get a gas flowed, big valve head!!!

I can see your point now, not sure if you can see mine. If the thermostat had stuck closed, would the bottom hose not get hot eventually as well? Seeing as there was no flow through the radiator the coolant in the whole system is going to get very hot.Plus the heat transference from the thermostat would probably be enough to warm the coolant in the top hose, but it will be no where near the temperature it gets when practically boiling hot 90degrees coolant is being pumped through it. There's another thing, pressure.

I did and it still doesn't make sense.The top hose only gets as hot as the coolant running through it.

I also have this problem mate. Think I'll go for a Magnex system tho. About the same price as the rest, but Magnex make the standard factory fitted exhausts for Aston Martin. Nuff said.

If you had read my post correctly, I did not say that the bottom hose should be cold, I said it should be cooler than the top one.The thermostat is just a valve that opens when the coolant in the engine gets to a certain temperature, allowing the coolant to flow to the radiator from the engine (via the top hose, heat rises??). The thermostat is not to `stop heat` as you put it, it is to control the temperature of the coolant in the system. Feel free to pm me if you want me to explain in greater detail the basic principles of the cooling system. :-d

Yep, it's self tensioning mate. It's about a ten minute job, if that. Took me about ten mins to replace the tensioner and the belt.Try it yourself, all you need is an M8 or M7 bolt (can't remember which),bout 75mill long and wind into the hole on the tensioner to take the tension off the belt. The belt then just pulls off, cost maybe 25pence for a bolt for the tensioner. :-d

If it was the thermostat, it would not be opening to let the hot coolant from the engine (top hose) to the radiator. Therefore the top hose would not be hot. The fact that the top hose was hot indicates that the thermostat was open and letting coolant flow from the engine to the radiator. The thermostat is in the thermostat housing, ON THE ENGINE, NOT ON THE RADIATOR.Also if the bottom hose was the same temperature as the top one,what is the point of having a radiator????

I meant the cooling system pressure tested Matt,sorry, but like you said above it's already been done. It may just be that you have not had enough antifreeze in your system and it just boiled over. I always have at least50% antifreeze in.If the head is warped it would have to come off and be skimmed, which would mean a new head gasket . Not quite sure what the symptoms would be, but a cylinder compression test should tell if there is anything wrong or not, and should not take longer than half an hour.

I don't think the noise you heard would be from the water pump, unles you drove it for about 200 miles after the coolant level light come on. If the coolant has come from the overflow, the inner wing and chassis leg directly underneath the expansion tank will be soaking with coolant. Plus, if the noise was from the water pump,it would be all the time, not just when you move the car.Unless you can see any obvious signs of coolant leakage, I'd get it pressure tested.Plus ,the water pump is on the drivers side, not the passengers side.

That just does not compute, Matt. The lower radiator pipe coming from the radiator to the engine is supposed to be a lot cooler than the top one and does not indicate a faulty thermostat, but suggests a healthy one.Can you see where the coolant has come from, like the expansion tank overflow? The light that come on is your coolant level indicator, not the temperature, as soon as the coolant gets below the prongs built into header tank, the light comes on. If the top pipe was cold that would suggest a faulty thermostat as it is not opening when it should. The grating metal noise sounds worrying

Thought they were hydraulic, mine is.

Cheers Matt. The car is standard, so shouldn't need a remap. Think its more likely to be a sensor than the timing as the pinking disappears when I disconnect the MAF.Was supposed to take it in on Tuesday for a vag com, but ended up getting hammered on Monday and couldn't face movement at all on Tuesday, so changed it to Saturday. Any idea what sensors control the fueling, does the lambda play a big part in controlling the fueling? Cheers.

If you have a look in the engine and tuning forum, there's a sticky on the subject at the top of the page :-d

Haynes don't do a manual for the VR, but a company called Bentley (think it's Bentley anyway) do one but I think it just covers the engine. Seen them on ebay before, so you don't need to buy a new one.