Average running temp gone up

OK so lately (past week or so) I've noticed the average running temperature has gone from 70 to 80 and goes up to 90 (or just over) more than it used to.

I've also noticed the fan kick in more often when I'm pulling up to somewhere at the end of a journey, more often if I've been sitting in traffic waiting to get to the destination (i.e traffic lights near work, then waiting to pull into the carpark etc)

Usually when im moving at over 30mph the engine just natrually cools itself down, but it hasn't recently

any ideas guys?

cheers

thermostat opening slower than usual?

sorry I don't know what that means?

OK i've gone off the advice of jimmy(midnight) and ordered a thermostat and large seal from VW @ £14.50

I'm picking it up on Thursday - in the meantime can anyone explain how difficult it is to change? :pale:

Also if it's only started happening recently, is this going to go dodge very quickly or am I ok to drive it for the time being?

cheers

very easy to change mate should take you no more than an hour even if you have never used a spanner before.

It wont suddenly die on you i dont think, just over time they slow down opening with age it will just get slower and slower then it wont open at all. I dare say your thermostat will be there and fitted before it doesnt open at all.

That's cool. As long as it doesnt overheat the car, bugger the head gasket and stop me going to cornwall next week i dont mind

OK i've just read through the haynes - says i need to drain the coolant before swapping this over. silly question: is it essential?

ideally i'd like to get away without doing it, but if the coolant actually goes through this part im going to need to do it..

also looking at this http://faculty.ccp.edu/faculty/dreed/Campingart/jettatech/coolingmaint/index.htm it implies all coolant will come out

Yep fraid so mate.. when you un-do the thermostat housing bolts the coolant will come out of it. Whether you drain it all down via a drain plug or just let it come out of where the thermostat sits in place is up to you. At work i normally just whip the 'stat out and catch the coolant that comes out rather than drain the whole system down.

If you want to drain it all down then there might be a small tap on the bottom corner of the radiator if your lucky rather than taking the bottom hose off (not sure if there will be as not done one on a mk3 before)

im doing it all tomorrow night for him so he'll be all sorted come tomorrow night hopefully

Tiz wrote:

im doing it all tomorrow night for him so he'll be all sorted come tomorrow night hopefully

arnt you a sweetheart

Dan

Dan34 wrote:

Tiz wrote:

im doing it all tomorrow night for him so he'll be all sorted come tomorrow night hopefully

arnt you a sweetheart

Dan

well i do like to help out as you know as long as you know im not cheating on you dan

Tiz wrote:

Dan34 wrote:

Tiz wrote:

im doing it all tomorrow night for him so he'll be all sorted come tomorrow night hopefully

arnt you a sweetheart

Dan

well i do like to help out as you know as long as you know im not cheating on you dan

you've got some making up to do

sticky thermostat ftl :( i need a new one.

at vindis it came to like £14.50 for the stat + seal

probably could have saved going to ecp or gpc but vindis is close by and convenient

worth getting fixed too billy

i would if i had money

for ref wilco in cambs was like £8 or something for it for my old tin top, all 3 of my mk3s sat at 90 on the temp too?did it sort it ash?

It sorted it, as in i know it's been fixed and wont be a problem, but it still sits at 80/90

After talking to tom he thought every mk3 he's seen runs at 80/90 too as standard lol so it looks like my car's been running cold for the past 2 years ive driven it and in the past 2 weeks has decided to go 'normal'

Still, atleast i know it's done!

Big respect to tom too, top bloke

Oh, and by the way Dan, I got my car on the ramp even if it only sat there for a minute

Ashley wrote:

Oh, and by the way Dan, I got my car on the ramp even if it only sat there for a minute

my car hates his ramp! we had to take the splitter off to get it on there and it still managed to nearly knock down his shed!

Dan