coolant temps help/advice

[sambb]

Job done. Dipstick out, thermo housing hose off, turbo recirc hose off, islolate battery then alternator cable/plug/cable clamp off and access is ok. With 1/4in drive, 100mm extension and a uni joint (critical) you can get onto the housings 10mm bolts easy enough. If you still had an SAI then that would have to come out too. Alternator, tensioner etc stayed in place for me. The stat was wedged open which explains the coolant temp issues.

For anyone with VCDS that wants to have a sniff around temps, go to instrument 17 instead of the engine ecu and then Group 003. That shows actual coolant temp in the same block with oil temp (which comes from the sump level sensor unit) and also oil level. Good to look at and get an idea of the rate of increase of the two temps and also how the heat exchanger works very well to keep oil and water temps pegged very close to one another in normal driving

When my thermostat was stuck open it was taking literally 30km before oil temps got up above 60 degrees. With the thermostat working as per usual again, you can see the water temp drag the oil up much quicker.

[Stuwey]

Yeah the genuine vw thermo is expensive. I got caught needing it on short notice so sucked it up.

Good luck trying to do it without removing something.

Can be done with alternator in place - but you'd need to remove the intake. I only did the latter as I was installing the ie spacer so had it all off anyway.

I did mine without removing anything - lost some skin off the knuckles, but no worse than anything else on these things

[simon k]

*cough* 5 bolts on a mini *cough*

[Stuwey]

Exactly!

My wife's Jetta however, I can't even SEE it, let alone figure out how to change it.

Sounds like a job for someone else