overheating 8 valve

[Rodreguez]

The red light below my water temp sign started flashing yesterday is this light just to let you know the coolant is low or other problems?

My water temp guage is always just above the white and my heaters are warm never hot.

Driving down the M6 yesterday my water temp guage went right up above halfway for the first time since i bought the car yet my heaters were ice cold.  Oil temp on MFA read 130 degrees!!! Also the fan wasn't on

Does this mean the Temp sender unit/Thermoswitch is gone or me Thermostat in the radiator?  Going to flush system this morning any ideas on which part/s I might need to change to get fan going lads?  :'(




 

[Gambit]

if its flashing then the water level is low

[Rodreguez]

Replaced the water and it just boiled off escaping from coolant expansion tank.  

My fan doesnt even switch on to cool engine even when oil temp reads 130 degrees

[Gambit]

get a new expansion bottle cap, the seals go on them, only bout ?7 from VAG

then do this when its cold:-

set the heaters to max heat - this prevents air locks in the heater matrix ocurring
take the expansion cap off
disconnect the bottom hose pipe
let all the fluid drain out
flush it by running a hose in the top of the expansion bottle
reconnect the bottom pipe
fill with anti-freeze & water
start engine and let idle until either the fan kicks in or the water boils out the top of the expansion cap
turn engine off
top up water level in expansion bottle
replace expansion cap, make it tight!!

then run it again and let it idle, keep an eye on the water temp gauge, the fan should kick in when its about halfway on the scale - if it dont then check the wiring & the fan itself

[Gambit]

oil temp should not be getting up to 130, at idle it should stay around 98-102 on a 16v, and going up to around 120 when booting it

[Rodreguez]

Turns out now that it might be my head gasket thats gone  :'(

Been working on car all day.  I keep topping coolant up, it took loads.  Changed thermostat at bottom of coolant pump.  changed thermo switch but the radiator doesnt get hot but the top pipe on radiator is red hot.

Not sure if the new thermostat is opening or not.  I still cant get hot air out of the blowers although I did get a quick blast of heat when i first topped up coolant.

In the garage my mate got some blue fluid in a pippet type squeezer thing to analyise the gasses comming out of the expansion tank (water is bubbling out when the cap is taken off) it turned a seethrough green colour which ment the gasket had gone.

What do you guys think?? Any help much appreciated.

[Gozza]

Me was gonna say head gasket, never a nice one that !!