Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

1.6 eco turbo

My engine temperature gauge gets hot. All the waay.


And i loose coolant. But i think it. Evaporates out.


My question is can i take thermostat out and leave it out?

Should i use head gasket in a bottle?

no one will recommend head gasket in a bottle.

Your thermostat my be sticking closed, but you'll have to replace it - not good to run without a themostat because it blocks the bypass, so without it you won't get good flow to the radiator.

Is the radiator cooling fan coming on at the right temperature?


There are some tests to tell if the head gasket is leaking... search

I will occasionally recommend Bar's Leaks fancy Head Gasket Repair (~$30/bottle).

But not for a car I like, or a car I plan to keep.

I put a head gasket on my 1.6 Eco-Turbo when it was overheating... it was worth the effort.

How's the coolant flow into the resevoir?
Steady?
Blocked?

Bentley test is to pull t stat and put it in hot water with a candy thermometer and see if it expands at least 7mm at running temp

Shouldnt overheat even without fan except for prolonged idling or very hot weather or a big hill or something.
Will loan head gasket leak tester, just pay shipping. PM if interested. May need to buy fluid for it. Dont know if i have any. They have it at napa

Sounds picky, I know, but... I'd advise buying/installing a good German-brand thermostat. Wahl is a good brand & there are others usually available, likely from the owner of this website. (Out of experience as a former distributor/wholesaler, I would seriously advise against buying the domestic brand S***T or its private-labelled clones; have tested & found way too many total failures in their NEW-right-out-of-the-box units! ) As mentioned above, test ANY (new or used) thermostat before installing.

Also, chemically flush/clean flush/neutralize your entire cooling system, including the heater core. A previous owner/technician may not have cleaned it thoroughly in the course of replacing a head gasket. Oil deposits or other contaminants on engine or radiator metal negatively impact the transfer of heat away from the engine, into the radiator's metal & into the cooling airstream.

Don't use a higher percentage of ethylene glycol 'anti-freeze' than you require for your climate's driving conditions. Ethylene glycol has only about half the heat transfer ability of pure water. A Redline product called "Water Wetter" also seems to increase the heat transfer process; it also has anti-corrosive properties.