VRS engine coolant temp 85C - ok?

[Jules59]

Hi Everybody, I was test driving my son's VRS yesterday as he thinking of handing down to his younger sister. Its done 80K miles and appears to be running ok. The coolant temp gauge is rock steady on 90C but when I connected my reader to the OBD (Torque Pro on my Android phone) the coolant temp reads 85C which seems a bit low to me. It varied by 3 degrees (84 -87) doing the test. Its the original thermostat and the engine is standard. As far as I know MPG is OK but Ive not confirmed that myself.

Is this temp OK or should I change the thermostat?

Its been utterly reliable (touch wood, hence the desire to keep it in the family. It drives and stops well - it had the TT brake upgrade and a rear ARB many years ago. It had a new clutch and DMF last year. It needs a new dogbone mount though.

[viewer]

It's fine. The VAG temperature gauges are engineered to be a bit dishonest. When in the acceptable range they stay on centre / 90 even though the real temperature is constantly varying - supposedly to stop us being concerned (!). 85C is OK and a new thermostat won't make any difference.

[AwesomeAl]

That's pretty much spot on really! Anything between 80?c and 95?c is a normal operating temperature

[faboka vrs]

Sounds spot on to much. Takes ages to get to 90c.

[stuart vrs]

hi,

totally agree mine takes a couple of miles at 40 ish to get to 90 and stays there until i get to work 32miles later using motorway so it sounds go to me.