Hi there having issues with my 1.4 16v felicia fan kicks in and out ok but temp gauge reads really high like half way normal then 3/4 when fan kicks in...

They do run quite a lot hotter than the 8v engines.

does it only do it when it's sat idling for a while or does it do it when driving normally?

Only really when idling sits happly driving half way 90+ would the diesel rad be a better rad and fan to run I got it from a fella off here so I did not convert my self but does give me plenty off smiles...mpg

Hi mate I don't think its really a problem....I certainly never experienced any actual overheating with your car when it was mine, but then again I never sat in traffic jams much.

 

In any case not sure a bigger radiator will make that much difference if we're are talking about idling (NB little or no airflow). It sounds to me as if you would like the fan to kick in earlier, so I would look for a lower activation temp radiator switch to replace the standard 1600 one that's in there. 

 

Doing that may mean of course that the AFH is actually running cooler than it was designed to? Remember you aren't looking at a Polo 16v temp guage when its showing hotter than halfway...that might be dead centre on a Polo 16v dash?  

Tbh it don't bother me now as the fan kicks in and it's been 100% reliable even with the stick she get on road and track days. Even better now she's lower you did a good job juan27 just passed a mot...

The other thing you could do is fit an electric cooling pump to assist the coolant flow, I'm certain it will be the flow rate that's causing it rather than the size of the radiator, I had big cooling problems with the 1.8t car, I got the electric cooling pump from an e class merc and had that pumping round the heater core, it gave it that little bit of extra pressure it needed to keep it cool at idle.