VR6 overheating

[blackbullet]

Hi all

Hope you can help. A friend of mine has a vr6 in a mk II Golf which has just developed an overheating problem.

The top pipe to the rad is hot and swollen, the pipe out of rad is cold and limp. He suspects the thermostat.
Would you agree?

regards
Andy

[franv8]

Don't these have a habit of blowing head gaskets? Sounds like air in the system, although I had this on my MX5 when the water pump started leaking - loss of coolant was hardly appreciable but it kept pulling air into the system and airlocking it.

Check the oil filler cap for any mayonaise, if the gasket is in doubt, garages can do a quick test with an exhaust gas analyser to look for combustion products in the cooling circuit.

Hope you get it sorted.

[blackbullet]

Thanks for the info. He replaced the thermostat and that looks to have sorted it.
He went for a spin and had no proplems

thanks again
Andy