Ok, does anyone elses 
"standard GTI"'s overheat fan cut in from a warm start, kicks in after 10 seconds , runs for about 20 seconds and then cuts out? doesnt do it from cold from what ive noticed,only from when cars been standing for approximatly 1hr.
OK, I've come across this before, but not on the GTI. Two issues to consider.
Firstly, the engine ECU will "instruct" the cooling fans to run up, to make sure they are working OK. This is a simple "self-check", along the same lines as the ABS/ESP self checks.
Secondly, when a car is parked up after being used, the "stored" heat in the engine will not be dissipated effectively, because of no airflow through the rads. As the car stands, the heat is transferred to the coolant, and actually gets hotter than the radiator "ideal". As soon as the car is started, the small quantity of extra hot coolant from the head and block is pumped to the rad, the thermo sensor on the rad says fook-me, that's too hot, and turns on the fans. As the actual volume of "hot" coolant is small, and the much colder coolant in the rad gets mixed up by the water pump, the average coolant temperature rapidly drops again, the thermo sensor breathes a sigh, and turns off the fans!
By the way, SEAT ALTEA FR170 idea ditched, went on test drive on tuesday, drove out of the showroom, got 200 yards and that was enough for me! absolute CRAP, ill live with My Alcoholic GTI , cant beat its build quility in comparison to cheap SEATS interia. tis a shame, they look nice but have budgeted on their interia's on all their model line ups, hense why they are so much cheaper to buy then vw. I was and polished the gti tuesday PM and stood back and thought " no way, shes staying!"
Top man, you've seen the light!
