UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

HI,

Driving back from Lakeside yesterday on the A13, i realised that i had lost power. i looked at the Dash and could see that the temperature light was flashing and the temp gauge was maxed. i immediately turned the heaters on to release the heat from the engine. what i noticed was that hot air was blowing but after about 2mins the air went cold. the car cooled down as i slowed down.

when i got home, i opened the bonnet. i noticed that the radiator was hot, but the fan wasn't turning on.

I check out some post which led me to believe this could be a thermostat problem.

Can someone please post up instructions on replacing the thermostat. or let me know if i should be doing other checks before i start changing parts.

Could be the temperature sensor faffing up?

To change the Thermostat is pretty straight forward though.

On a cold engine, unclip pipe at the bottom of the radiator and drain out coolant.

Unclip all the relevant pipes and bolts to the thermostat housing, and remove it.

Not sure on the 6N2 whether or not the thermostat is built into the housing, so you'll either be replacing the whole thing, or just the thermostat inside. You'll be able to tell by looking at your new thermostat though.

Reconnect all bolts and pipes.

Whilst leaving the initial pipe at the bottom of the radiator pour water into the coolant bottle and watch it come out of the bottom pipe. Do this until the water is completely clear.

Re-connect pipe at the bottom of the radiator. Then fill coolant up with roughly 60% water, 40% G12 anti-freeze.

Once at correct level turn the car on and whack the heaters on full. Keep an eye on the coolant level and make any adjustments with water. Squeeze the pipes as you wait.

After 5 minutes take it for a good spin to heat the engine up, then check the levels again, and make any further adjustments necessary

Thanks Tim_GTI,
Don't think its the sensor, as i actually lost some power when i was driving (unless the sensor can cause that to happen).
Hopefully i can get round to doing this later today.