Thermostat for AGG 2.0 8v

[AntMk3GTi]

Hi

I know it's been asked loads of times and I've done a search, but I cant find a complete step by step guide for changing the stat for the AGG engine.  I've not done it before, so could someone start right at the begging and go into a bit more detail about removing / moving PAS pump etc.. is the stat inside a coolant pipe? I looked at my engine and looks like I need to remove the alternator and some sort of base plate its attached to??
I know it's a pain to ask for this, almost as much as a pain as changing the thing!

Cheers in advance !!

[rubjonny]

just nee to drop the pas pump off the engine, thermostat is behind the plastic flange on the bottom of the waterpump.  dead easy to remove, just got a couple bolts and it drops down, leave the pipes attached.  once you get under there and look it should become obvious!

theres a 15mm bolt which is the main pivot, you'll want to loosen that. on passenger side theres a bolt thru a slotted hole on alt bracket, loosen that. Then a bolt driver side with a large toothed hex nut under it, loosen the bolt then put a spanner on that to release pump tension and remove belt.

Once you have done that, undo the 2 13mm bolts above then theres 2 more bolts going straight up thru the pas bracket into bottom of block. Once all those are removed the lot should just fall off the engine.

[AntMk3GTi]

Cheers for that, a lot to undo but i'll give it a go. When you say "when you get under there" do you mean under the car? I was thinking this could be accessed from above the engine bay? Also do I completely remove the alt or do I just pivot it out of the way?

Thanks

[VWstevo]

Cheers for that, a lot to undo but i'll give it a go. When you say "when you get under there" do you mean under the car? I was thinking this could be accessed from above the engine bay? Also do I completely remove the alt or do I just pivot it out of the way?

Thanks

Hi

Just changed my thermo 3 days ago. You have to get under the car it located on the drivers side, you don't have to take the alternator off or owt like that. Just take the bolts out as per above and it will drop down, you mite have to give it a little tap to get it to move. The top bolt on the wheel side can be a bite tight to get into. When you drop the power steering pump leave all hoses attached and it will dangle enough for you to get in. Take the 2 bolts out holding the thermo, be careful though if they are tight they could brake, when fitting the new thermo make sure it comes with a new o ring it should do, then put it back in reverse order. When tightening the 2 bolts to the thermo don't over tighten them or they mite brake the  thermo housing then it problems lol. Once thats fitted put the power steering pump back in place and re-bolt back up finished nice job done. Takes 20 minutes to do.

[bobbito]

I think you can do it from the top but you have to undo and move to one side the alternator and remove the big alloy plate behind. You then Drain system and take of bottom hose and remove water pump, thermo is at the base of it. If you don't have a jack I would try it. Did it the other day after changing head gasket and timing belt. Easy if you know which end of a spanner to use and saves crawling around on the ground.

[VWstevo]

I think you can do it from the top but you have to undo and move to one side the alternator and remove the big alloy plate behind. You then Drain system and take of bottom hose and remove water pump, thermo is at the base of it. If you don't have a jack I would try it. Did it the other day after changing head gasket and timing belt. Easy if you know which end of a spanner to use and saves crawling around on the ground.

Yeh you can change it from the top. I had to change the water pump last nite and did this from the top, not too bad a job took about 40mins.

[rubjonny]

you can do the waterpump from the top, but you definitly can not do the thermostat on its own from the top.  only way to do stat from the top is to take the waterpump out