Jretal

while on the track I noticed that my coolant would go up to one big tick past the half way mark during certain hard laps (yeah I was beating on her pretty good =P). At the same time, my oil would rise to over 250* as well.

I wrote the overheating off to the extremes I was pushing the engine to, and that I have a 10yr old radiator that has been drained once to do the TB, but I doubt my mechanic flushed the system real thoroughly.

Well, as unfortunate as it is, it wasn't due to the extremes on the track. Had the same issue happen after a spirited run over the mountains at home, as well as during my drive back down to VA yesterday.

The deal is, when the a/c is off, the aux elec fan and a/c fan don't turn on until the car starts to overheat (starts to hit the 1st big tick) and only then do BOTH fans kick on.

SO my question is... is there some sorta temp switch on the radiator that might cause my fans not to turn on when they're suppose to? As soon as I kick on the A/C it cools down like it's suppose to... so it's gotta be a sensor of some sort, I'm just not sure what.

Thanks for your help guys! Oh, and after my lil excursion on the track, I seem to have developed a new oil leak I'll try to get under the car this weekend to figure out what the deal is, but we'll see if I have time. Gotta move my a/c unit and finish building my deck... that way I'll have a damn garage to work in

northof49(+1+1)

i had to replace mine this spring (96 with 250,000km) my oil temps were always 100C or higher even in cold winter weather. after it devoloped a leak i replaced it and now everthing is ok again. draining the coolant to make the change was an eye opener to how dirty it was especially when i opened the drain plug on the block. There is a sensor on the rad that is for the elec fan. it is drivers side, motor side on the rad. but it must still be working if like you say it does kick in when things get too hot. you could try to replace it but i bet it would still only kick in at the same temp setting, i don't think it is adjustable. i also replaced the fan clutch at the same time, it too had gone bad. hope this helps

Jretal

I would need to flush out the coolant to replace that switch anyway, so I might try to kill 2 birds with one stone. I got a feeling my coolant is way nasty anyway, so I gotta look into that.

Is there a special additive I can put in the coolant system to help clean it out when I flush it?

thanks for the help.

Mr.D-'97 A4q 12v

I'm having the same issue. I thought I recall someone replacing the fan thermo recently.

Ghostfire

Really what you need to do is drain it from teh bottom under the car. Stick a long peice of metal in the drain hole to make sure any extra junk gets knocked out.

Or you could poor water in the coolant tank and blow into the whole hard enough to push the water out of the drain plug a few times. If you do that dont put your lips on the whole put your hands over the whole like you where going to blow threw your hands to warm them up. Coolant can be deadly so this isnt the best method.

snowman '92 100

Prestone SuperFlush:
<img src="http://www.prestone.com/products/19.gif" />

My car seems like it's always overheating; so much so that I rigged a switch up to the thermoswitch so that I can force air to blow over the engine/through the radiator.

I also just replaced the coolant overflow reservoir because it was cracked. I'm not sure what kind of temperatures are normal and therefore what kind of pressure the system should see. If I let the car run without the rigged-up-switch and the radiator thermoswitch plugged in, the sucker will get to about two bars above the bold one on the temp gauge, THEN come on. Where does everyone's gauge rest?

Jretal

I'll haev to find a p/n for it. Might pick it up from autohausaz if I end up needing to get all the head gasket/tb stuff for the 4k if its headgasket is truely leaking. Here's hoping for an easy fix haha.

Jretal

btw, always meant to ask you... that pic of your old golf/GTI that's stretched... that a p/s? Or was the car actually stretched? Just curious =P

Jretal

did you bring it somewhere, or did good 'ol mother nature get a drink of the green stuff?

Mr.D-'97 A4q 12v

used coolant and oil.

Coolant is very poisonous and sweet tasting so animals will drink it not knowing any better. Please dispose of it properly.