Hi all Ive just bought a silver felicia estate that has sat for over a year. I bought it to do up and run myself as a second car. I knew it was overheating when I bought it but thought it would be an easy fix! The car temp gauge goes from cold to in the red within 5 mins! So far I have replaced the head gasket, water pump, thermostat housing, themostat, temp sender, fan switch and expansion bottle cap. and guess what it still overheats. I have now removed thermostat and it still overheats. It does this on idle and the fan never kicks in. If I bridge out the terminals to have fan on constantly it still overheats. Both hoses to and from the radiator get hot. Has anyone come across this before? Could the actual gauge inside the car be reading wrong and its not actually overheating?

Thanks

does it actually boil over??

you can look at what temperature the temp sender is showing the engine ecu using vag-com. it is entirely possible that the guage is not reading correctly also..

also have you checked there's no blockages in the radiator

No has never boiled over as of yet. Yeah I have removed radiator and no blockages found. The temp sendor I fitted had a yellow band the same as the old one. Ive heard there are 2 types one has a blue band. Is the yellow one the right one for the 1.6 anyone know?

there is also a green one too... but the yellow one is the correct one for that engine..

edit: thinking about it, if you run the fan constantly it should scrub off a lot of heat... it must be a dodgy guage

Edited 12 September, 201015 yr by TeflonTom

ok going to get it connected to a diagnostic computer 2moro and see what temp the ECU is reading.

Thanks

using vag-com, if you go into.. engine 01, measuring blocks 08, group 01. you will get 4 display zones.. from left to right it will be, engine rpm, coolant temperature, lambda probe voltage, binary readout.

Had a similar problem with mine recently. Are all pipes getting hot? Is the radiator getting hot all over?

Is the water pump working properly? Is water spraying back into the header tank from the small pipe near the filler cap?

Mine was also shooting up after a few minutes, but my header tank was bubbling like a kettle too.

well I connected up a diagnostic machine and read the data list and found that the coolant temp the ecu was reading was alot less than what the gauge was saying. After 5 mins the gauge was in the red reading over 120 degrees yet the machine was only reading 80 degrees! So it turns out its not actually overheating at all. Now I just need to work out if its the gauge thats faulty or the wiring. Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the temp gauge?

yes i do have the wiring diagrams, i will upload them for you tomorrow

ok just to update, I fitted a second hand set of dash clocks and now it doesn't overheat lol ! So faulty gauge it was !