[Vwdiesel] Bad thermostat?

[Brian Decker]

Not enough antifreeze?
Brian Decker

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of dieseltdi at verizon.net
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 5:49 PM
To: vw fans
Subject: [Vwdiesel] Bad thermostat?

OK, my Jetta did something very odd today.  First of all it has been in the
teens to 20's every morning  and high temps below freezing for the last few
days.  I got in the car and it started right up.  I had the heat over to max
and it began to make heat about the same place it always does.  HOWEVER,
about 3 miles from work, I noticed that the oil temperature AND the water
temperature gauge were getting pretty high (240F for the oil and 100C on the
water).  I turned the fan up full blast on the heater to keep the car from
overheating and made it to work.  The car did not boil over and there was
only the standard amount of pressure in the overflow when I opened it up to
see if it was full, it was.  I couldn't really check to much out this
morning BUT I did notice that the radiator WAS NOT hot!!!!  On the way home
this afternoon, I drove a bit slower and tried to stay off the turbo and
kept the temperatures down to where they should be.  When I go home the
radiator was cold once again.  Top radiator hose was hot but not too hot to
hold in my hand and the bottom radiator hose was essentially cold.  My first
guess is a stuck closed thermostat, second guess is a clogged radiator.
Considering that I still have flow to the heater kind of rules out the water
pump I think.  Before I go out in the cold tomorrow and rip out the
thermostat, I thought I would throw this out there to see if there are any
other ideas?  Hayden