No more 190?

We had a cold spell here that was about 10 below zero, and my car never warmed up to the usual 190 F. even after a 70 mile trip to work. It was cold so i really didn't think anything about it. But every sence then it had not went above the second thin line, but usually hahges out by the first thin line, even when the temp got to 50 F. Any ideas?

It'll do that man, I was returning to CO from PA via 70 and as the night went on and the cold front got closer and I eventually passed into it my needle went from 190 to 100. When its cold its cold, the compression ignition just can't keep up.

As for it never changing seems like something is up, when ambient is like 50, it should definitely have gotten up there.

I live in Manitoba Canada we have -40 c and the temp in my2001 Jetta will still get up to the middle it will take longer but the temp will riase it sounds like your thermosta might have packed it in they can fail open or closed open is the safest you just do not have heat closed then you will over heat .I would look at that if the stat is gone the hose to your heater will not feel have very much heat in it

Bad thermostat , it's stuck in the open position .

Replace soon !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! , running at too low of temp wears out your engine . Wear is many times higher when below normal running temp .

There are a lot of bad wrench turners out there. People who merely replace parts and "that'll be $$$$, please." What makes a good quality job?

Would a good quality job be for a person to remove the thermostat and examine it to see how it failed open? What has to happen for a thermostat to fail open? Based on their construction is it more probable to fail open or fail closed?

one thing i forgot to mention is the thermostat was replaced about 14,000 miles ago, by a VW dealership, with the new timing belt, pully, and water pump! Don't you have to remove the water pump to get to the thermostat?

The bad wrench turners have a gimmick. They can charge you $$$$ to replace your thermostat and never have to determine if anything was wrong with the thermostat to begin with. An ethical person would validate his guess and examine the thermostat, verify that it was truly at fault (I know that's how CattleRepairMan operates). Further you would find that once the thermostat was replaced the symptoms were resolved. Whereas a lot of wrench turners won't be caught dead being stuck for the cost of putting your car back together and then stand in front of you and say he was wrong. Not if he could use your "bad" thermostat on the next sucker that comes along. Problem with these bad wrench turners on this site is that when they engage their brains all they do is pass gas.
As you can see from EZC6083 post the symptoms you describe could have been the result of the environment you were operating in. But stand by. Rotary Kid will be back to explain everything.

one thing i forgot to mention is the thermostat was replaced about 14,000 miles ago, by a VW dealership, with the new timing belt, pully, and water pump! Don't you have to remove the water pump to get to the thermostat?

Click to expand...

Perhaps the dealer put in a thermostat rated to open at a cooler temp. Say 180 or 185 degrees. A small difference in the thermostat opening temp can make a big differnce on the temp. guage position.

--Nate

BG, have they checked out the coolant sensor? This sensor has two elements, one for the engine and one for the gauge. You can see both values in vag-com. My coolant sensor went bad and so did a bunch of others.

Although I haven't changed mine (in 140k miles) I think the thermostat is up front and pretty easy to change (except for dealing with the expensive hoses and stuff).

Swaped the coolant sensor out on saturday and all is now well!!!!

Did the heat feel normal coming out of the heater?

If so it may be your coolant temp sensor.

I just replaced mine last week and it was cake.

good luck matt