Broken Down, need advice!!

[mellow yellow]

I broke down this morning in my 8v gti.

firstly my power steering went on the way to work which was quite interesting  but i managed to carry on my journey, however when i reached the town i work in i noticed that the water temp was very high and so i pulled over into a nearby park and ride and by this time the temp light was flashing.

I let it cool down for a bit but had to get to work because by this time i was running late.

I did feel the expansion bottle and it seemed low but didnt take the cap off because didnt want water all over my suit.

any ideas on what could have happened? are the power steering and water levels/temp related or is this two seperate things?
thing is i'm in work now and cant get out to my car til its dark???

bloody things 

[Agreeable Slick]

I would check to make sure your belt is still there. PAS pump going in line with engine temp soaring is a give away. Don't drive it anymore as your water pump isn't going to be working with no belt on it.

[tenere]

Hi ,i had similar problem,water pump leaking,inturn the pas belt slipping on right turns.All sorted now as i had new water pump fitted plus new cambelt,pas belt and fanbelt.

[mellow yellow]

ok so the pas belt powers the water pump? any pics of where this is on the engine?

[Agreeable Slick]

Same side as the timing belt. Left hand side of the engine as you look into the bay.

[mellow yellow]

ah ok, so in the same respect if the water pump has failed then this would cause the loss of water and also the pas to stop working?

my first thoughts are new water pump then because it has been noisy lately.

just hope the overheat hasnt warped the head  only ran for a couple of mins with the light flashing so fingers crossed.

[rubjonny]

pas belt is seperate to waterpump belt, unless you have aircon?

[mellow yellow]

yes got aircon mate so does that mean its probably the water pump at fault? therefore new water pump and all new belts needed?

[rubjonny]

aha, explains everything then. you have a loose or missing pas/waterpump belt as above. its the thinner V belt, not the big thick ribbed one.

fingers crossed you haven't damaged the engine due to waterpump not spinning!

not gonna be the pump itself i dont think, if that had failed it wouldn't effect the pas. unless it had siezed or something, but not so common for that to happen. more likely you lost tension or belt snapped

[mellow yellow]

cool, thanks for the advice.

i'm meeting the rac man at my car after work so hopfully he can get me home so i can get it all sorted.