Overheating when stationary and slow speeds

[SamVR6]

Hey guys new to the site having only owned my k reg vr6 with 109k on the clock since saturday  usual problems (rust on the bottom of the doors, leccy windows dont work in the front) but for £500 i love it, the car however has a tendancy to overheat when idling for two long or when driving around town at slow speeds, when it does overheat water has a tendancy to come out through the header tank until the fan comes on but even then temp is high until i drive at consistently at 40mph+ when it will stay nice and cool, i have been told by a mate it could be the water pump and or the thermostat packing up, no oil in water or water in oil so im guessing head gasket ok but i had a not too dissimilar problem with my audi 80 and that was reported to be a crack in the block (shudder) if anyone has had similar problem or has any suggestions/remedies i would be very much grateful, cheers guys Sam (great site buy the way!)

[Andy-H]

I would start with the thermostat first Mate as it's the cheapest to buy 

[gtigolfthree]

Hi, welcome to the site as above and the fan thermo switch if you think its coming on too late.

[Wayne]

Welcome to the site.

I would start with the themostat but could be water pump.

[Reasty]

Welcome to the site mate.

This could be a number of problems,as said start with the thermostat as its cheap to change,also check the fan thermo switch as it may be faulty and causing the radiator to cut in too late,if its none of these then try flushing out the radiator as it may be blocked,you can just use a hose to do this,failing that it could also be an airlock in the system so drain all the water (and hopefully coolant!)out of the car and refill the system making sure you get all the air out,failing that its more than likley the water pump has failed,this is a well known problem with vw's of this age,my mk3 is a 94 L reg and ive had this exact problem and it was the waterpump,hope this helps  

[SamVR6]

thanks guys, much appriciated, doesnt sound to serious then, going to replace the water pump and thermostat and see what happens

[VW BUSH]

Welcome to the site.

I would start with the themostat but could be water pump.

+1
Also check the fan actualy works and change the tank cap

[Wayne]

Might even be a air lock.

[VR6-Joe]

Get it plugged into VAGCOM

[miyagigoose]

Ive changed a lot of radiators and radiator fans on a few different brands of cars recently
A few had the problem you speak of and somtimes ive found the problem to be that the radiator itself isnt performing as well as it should be, through age and deterioration, though even if they look okay if they have been on for a long time (since new) or similar, they can scale up and  block, and they become a lot  less effective at low speeds/standing

if thats the case you can usually tell because you fan will cut in lots  and almost straight away when standing still, unless ofcourse it is the thermostat which is always worth checking its cutting in and bringing the fan on at the right time so you know its working