Engine Temperature

[cnelsonplumber]

Just catching up with a few little jobs on my daughter's MK IV.

The engine doesn't seem to get very warm, even if the engine is laboured or left at idle. The temperature gauge reads about 75 max. Is this Ok or should I be thinking about looking for the thermostat and changing it.

Back in the day, when I was a young man and tinkered with cars for fun rather than necessity there used to be winter and summer stats, not sure if that still applies.

It seems to take ages to de mist the windscreen but I think that is more to do with the heater fan which is not particularly efficient.

[alexperkins]

Sounds like the thermostat has had it

Its one thermostat for all seasons now - replacements are inexpensive. Get a genuine VW one if you can as the copy parts, unless of very good quality, tend to fail prematurely or are inaccurate

Your best to change the coolant whilst your at it (3L of G13 coolant, with the remainder water in the system) for efficiency.

The heater fan should be more efficient once this is resolved.

[cnelsonplumber]

I will pick up a new stat after xmas cheers. Should be easy enough to locate the old one

Im not sure about G13. I have access to ethylene glycol at work how does a 25% mix sound

[alexperkins]

Ethylene Glycol is the same stuff - G13 is VW genuine coolant.

Dont do it by % - use 3L of Ethylene Glycol and top the rest up with water. Thatll give you around a 40-50% mix which is suitable all year round for effective heating and cooling on these blocks.