i need some help

[the_dubmeister]

Hi everyone i'm pretty new to this forum, i'm normally on the pvw forum, and was wondering if i could have some advice as with me not been too mechanically minded it does'nt help my situation, i have a 1994 mk3 golf driver, for the past few weeks my car has been running very high on the tempreture gauge pretty much 110 all the time, i have looked into the part where i put water the water bottle and it is drinking water very badly if i fill it up it will just swallow it and will need filling up in a matter of no time, i have no warm heat coming from the heater, and cant see any leaks from underneath, my first thoughts would be a head gasket? however i dont want to go doing anything like that when i might not need to, if someone could inform me more i'd be very greatfull.

[rubjonny]

is your coolant a dirty brown colour, and/or is there alot of milky brown goo under your oil cap?
If not, replace the header tank cap, and both plastic coolant flanges attached to the front & right side of the head.

If that don't help have a good look at your radiator!

[the_dubmeister]

the colour of the water has been a dirty brown colour yeah, do you think my problem could be a blocked radiator maybe?

[rubjonny]

it may be a blown head gasket then, but I'd replace those things abovce first, along with the thermostat.  Then once you have all the old bits off disconnect any coolant hoses you can and blast everything through with a hosepipe till it runs clear. 

If the coolant turns rusty brown again then its most likely a head gasket failure

A compression test is the best way to check