Head Gasket or engine swap?

I have an ajm 115bhp golf with a vnt 17 turbo with 155000miles on the clock and i think the head gasket is about to go as for the last 20000 miles since getting the rad and waterpump changed the car has been over heating when i put the foot down and the other day it went stupid high probly the marker before 130degrees

so....

i need to look into either repairing or swopping the engine and if i do swap the engine what should i get 130 or 150 or what would be involved in getting one of the 2litre engines running?

have you checked your thermostat??

It couldnt hurt to try but it wasnt long ago that it was changed to be honest its been doing the overheating thing ever since i got the new rad fitted and it was after that i got the thermostat changed so its only a couple of year old at the most

if you dont wanna spend money, just take out stat. and put it in hot water round 80cel you showed see it open
also that mileage is not high for a diesel man

my caddy has same mileage she purring like kitten

when shes running shes fine its just if i have to put my foot down the temp rises and its hard not to put your foot down i like to hear the turbo spin

so your not toppin up with water? you have nice hot air inside the car??
no white smoke?

no smoke and plenty of hot air in the car but do have to put a little water every now and again think i have topped up once maybe twice since November

Could be head gasket leaking compression into coolant when you romp on it. Gasses in the coolant circuit then disrupt cooling. Check for air "spitting" into the flow going into the top of the coolant bottle.

Could also be a slipping impeller on water pump. You can check this when changing thermostat- impeller is visible from tstat hole. Rev engine high and watch coolant in top of bottle- If it stops flowing, impeller may be slipping at high rpm.

Probability have that bad plastic water pump impeller.