Urgent advice please

[Justins145bhpMK1]

Had a bit of a scare in the MK1 last night. Had been driving it quite hard and once I got in traffic the water temp gauge went over 2/3 across, no flashing light but it worried me a bit. Pulled up for a while and when I set off again the temp settled back down to half way. Does the temp on these engines fluctuate that much if pushed, am going to check the cooling fan is working tonight.

[AdamB]

I have that problem on my Cabrio all the time. If the car is still for a few minutes on a warm day the temp needle goes fairly high. I thought my fan had stopped too, but it was working fine.  The way I look at it is how often do you see them broke down or overheated on the motorways in summer? I think it could be a trait so dont worry too much.

[richandhazel]

I agree with the above......these engines do seem to get hot very quick. If you're at all concerned that its not cooling properly put your heater on full hot and put the fan on, that'll help cool the coolant and all the while it blows hot, you know there is still plenty of coolant in the system.

[Justins145bhpMK1]

Cheers Lads. Poped home at lunchtime to give it the once over and found a snapped connection off the water temp switch so the fan wasnt cutting in. Ill be sorting that tonight!

[dorsetdumplin]

i had that trouble but then replaced my oil cooler with a larger one and then put the twin fan rad cover off a G60 (i think) might be vr6 cant remember
this made it run fine even after a good thrashing around castle coombe circuit!!!