Just purchased a used 2013 Passat TDI 6M down in California with ~145k miles. I was down in SoCal, saw the car for sale, bought it and drove it back to the Seattle area.
On the return drive, I noticed that the coolant temp gauge would elevate past the mid-point (190F) when driving up a significant grade at freeway speeds for extended periods. It maybe went a notch above...nowhere close to the red. Still, I wouldn't expect this to be normal/ideal. I just purchased a ScanGuage II and will be monitoring the temp. So far on city driving it gets to about 210F. My understanding is that the thermostat should be 189F and understand there will be fluctuation.
At what point does it become concerning and should it be addressed? It could be a number of things and can get expensive trying to sort out the issue. I have read through some posts and understand the heater core issues that people have been having. Thinking about a flushing out the system first and seeing if that'll help.
Also if there is DPF/EGR delete, would that help in terms of the heater core issue that seems to be plaguing these cars? From what I've read, it seems when the DPF activates it heats things up considerably which can cause the coolant "get nasty" and clog things up. I could have misunderstood the issue and would love any insight here.
Thanks in advance!
On the return drive, I noticed that the coolant temp gauge would elevate past the mid-point (190F) when driving up a significant grade at freeway speeds for extended periods. It maybe went a notch above...nowhere close to the red. Still, I wouldn't expect this to be normal/ideal. I just purchased a ScanGuage II and will be monitoring the temp. So far on city driving it gets to about 210F. My understanding is that the thermostat should be 189F and understand there will be fluctuation.
At what point does it become concerning and should it be addressed? It could be a number of things and can get expensive trying to sort out the issue. I have read through some posts and understand the heater core issues that people have been having. Thinking about a flushing out the system first and seeing if that'll help.
Also if there is DPF/EGR delete, would that help in terms of the heater core issue that seems to be plaguing these cars? From what I've read, it seems when the DPF activates it heats things up considerably which can cause the coolant "get nasty" and clog things up. I could have misunderstood the issue and would love any insight here.
Thanks in advance!
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