temp light and gauge...

[purplecrocs]

Hi . My temperature light seems to stay on for anything from 30 seconds to 5 minutes or so after starting, what would cause this... coolant levels seem ok from what I can tell. Also, where on the gauge should the needle be for normal operation temperature... mine only goes up a small amount, to the little line marked on the gauge, I'm not sure wether that marks normal or not as its quite near the start of the gauge...

[Mocki]

"normal" according to the vw owners manual is anywhere between the two white boxes.
as for the light, try cleaning the low coolant sender plug on the top of the header tank

[kevtherev]

Average position for the guage is in the middle when up to working temp

[purplecrocs]

hmmm doesnt get anywhere near the middle. Would it mean a thermostat change, and does it cause any problems it being a bit cool? And if it did need a new thermostat, can I just get it from somewhere like camberley auto factors? (sorry.. bit of a newb!)

[andisnewsyncro]

And if it did need a new thermostat, can I just get it from somewhere like camberley auto factors? (sorry.. bit of a newb!)

Personally I'd get if from Brickwerks, then you know it's the right one for your engine and they only sell decent parts. Won't be much in it price wise and they post out pretty quickly. There were a few posts on here regards thermostats from JK & the like which were not very complimentary...

[T25Convert]

I've had a very similar problem. Before you go ripping out thermostats its worth just checking the multi-plug on the back of the dash is making good contact. I've found that I can make the gauge read wahtever I want depending how i hold the plug, ditto the light........

Cheers,

Alex

[kevtherev]

Purple crocs
GSF Part No 17617 thermostat - 87C

£7.90 +vat and less your club discount of 10%

[clartsonly]

make sure you can remove the thermostat housing before buy the therostat I have an unused thermostat sitting on my freezer as the theromostat housing has rusted into the engine.

if you get warm to hot air out of the heaters I would say it is heating up enough.

my temperature gauge is usually about 3/4 across because I dont think the thermostat is opening enough but three years later it is still the same as it was.

[AngeloEvs]

As above but I check coolant level as follows:- from cold, get someone to start and gently rev the engine to keep it running, remove the blue dalek cap and then get them to increase rpm to around 2500 and observe the coolant level. if it dips significantly then you have lost coolant and the system may need bleeding. Does the heater get warm/hot? If it does and you are getting low temp gauge reading and flashing light I am wondering if you have a poor earth in the coolant wiring circuit as this could cause both problems.

[purplecrocs]

yes... heating does get hot... in fact the topic of another post of mine so dont know if they're related... I cant actually get the heating through cool...its either warm, or hotter! I'll check the coolant as you suggested and I guess I should get the fuse box out a clean all the earths.

[kevtherev]

Well if it's not blowing cool, then the valve is not halting the supply of hot coolant to the heater matrix.
Pull off the spare wheel and check it's operation.
It's unmissable.