overheating

[dubslug]

mates just joined us dubbers but has a problem, car is running at at least 3/4 hot, even more b4 the fan kicks in, any ideas as he will be doing lots of miles,and ive said how reliable they are 
mine runs at half much over that the fan kicks in how can i get his too??
its a 1.8 carb model??
help plz

[dubslug]

anyone got any ideas why this is over haeting, has enough water in it, heaters blow hot etc

[Tucker]

Tey chaing the fan switch, might help not going to cost alot

[Tucker]

Try

[dubslug]

thats wot i was thinking, how easy is it to change the fan two a two speed fan??

[vwsystems]

it should have a 50/ 50 water and coolent in it!

the thermostat may be opening too late, this stops shut until the engine is warm once its warm it then lets water flow through the radiator to be cooled!

start the engine from cold and once then engine starts to get warm check to see if the bottom radiator pipe gets warm this will indicate that the thermo opening and is working!

the fan thermo switch is located in the bottom of the radiator it will have wires running from it to the fan!

the fan comes on at about 95'c i think and then the 2nd speed comes on later, it says on the switch and it also says in the haynes! when the fan is ment to kick in!

[dubslug]

water and coolent are almost 50 50 slightly more anti freeze oops, i no the bottom hose does get hot will double check to see when though,im thinking its the fan switch not turning on early enough, it kicks in when its near boil and goes off just after half way then heats back up before kicking in, when we bought the car i noticed it had water leak but i fixed that today yet its still getting hot. it drives fine, plenty of oil no mayo in oil cap or water cap.

[Blue MK2]

just take the thermostat out like what ive done on my polo. no more overheating 

ohh and the fan doesnt work so ive got it wired up to a seperate switch

now thats cowboy

[Veedubgt18v]

its easy to make it 2 speed go and look at a gti down the scrappy and you will see, its a different switch and 1 extra witre thats all

[dubslug]

right guys i have no changed the thermostat, and the fan switch but still no joy, the thermostat doesnt open till just before full temp!!! and then the fan kicks in just over full temp. i may be wrong but isnt there three sensors on the front of the block with one being the temp gauge in the car?? could it be this sensor thats playing up??