My 1976 Mk1 Golf LS Automatic

[des]

Here's my temp gauge as of today, sometimes it was a little higher than this

[paulie71]

Welcome, nice swallowtail!

I'll second that last comment, I've had two golfs with a variety of 8v engines (1.6, 1.8, 1.9) and injection gear (3 different carbies and kjet CIS) and the temperature gauge usually sits at about 3/4 on normal days and close to the red on hot days..

P.S - a tip for those who get stuck with an overheating car; bypass the thermo switch (wires going into the side of the radiator) with a piece of wire - it keeps the fan running all the time and helps keep it cool. Obviously only to get you home, not a permanent solution!
Once on a road trip around Tassie, I did this on an old Bluebird (that had its thermostat die) using a paperclip and some sticky tape - great Macgyver trick haha!

You can do that or spend a couple of bucks to replace the thermoswitch with one that kicks in at a lower temp. Would be a shame to do a hatchet job on an original Mk1.

[GRN_VAGN]

Mine sits on 1/3 temp, and never moves, maybe on a hotter day in traffic it goes up a bit, on hwy it drops, but it has never gone near half or over ....

[Geoffrey Hale]

Hi all....Des there is one thing I notice when I see the photo of the dash. From what I've seen the Aussie built LS instruments have a small black plastic plug inserted into the centre of the clear plastic where it comes to a point if you get my drift. On the German built GLS the clear plastic is moulded into a perfect rounded point. I don't see the black plugs on yours. I'm thinking your car may have had the instrument panel changed to a GLS one and maybe there's a difference electrically between the gauge and the sender unit in the head. Maybe this is giving you a slightly false readout at the gauge. I have tested this sort of thing before by running the engine with the radiator cap off and sitting a thermometer in the coolant. Just watch to see what temp it is actually getting to and at what temp the electric fan turns on and off .I'd reckon about 80 degrees C is ideal.This is ok if you have a accurate thermometer...Cheers Geoff... PS... Where is GTIMK5? he knows about this stuff....

[GRN_VAGN]

My money is on wrong cluster too

I know when i put a 4k from a KE70 corolla into a KE55, i had to swap all the sensors over on the engine. otherwise my temp read up in the red. but it was warm to touch after a quick drive

Does your engine actually feel hot?

Im pretty sure the fan kicks in at around 93degrees and shuts off at 85? think thats what manual said

[des]

Thanks for the responses guys, you have given me a few things to get looked at and fiddle with from my end, yes it does seem to feel hot, even driving along you can feel the hot seeping through the dash.


That's interesting point about the cluster, and other clues to that would be that the dash appears to have never been put back in the car correctly, the vents are all popped out etc..



Will report back on my findings


thanks

[greasykitchen]

Hi ya Des,

I had thought when you posted over at AVW that yours might be a Swallowtail, but didn't think they did 'em in 4 doors.

My Aussie built 9/76 Golf also has the remote air filter, and your instrument cluster seems to look the same as mine (hard to tell exactly from the photo).

Also, the temp gauge on mine used to sit around where yours is in the pic. Since I had some heater core hoses replaced a couple of years ago the normal position is around half.

The fan is supposed to come on (or remain on) after the engine is switched off if it is over a certain temp. Mine does it often (but not always).

Cheers

PS $400 is a cheapie and good bang for the buck - my last service cost more than that!