Help!!

[mike1969]

My mk4 golf GTI turbo has developed a problem, the temp gauge goes to about 100deg and the motor loses power, this happens when your doing about 80 on the motorway, as soon as you slow down to 60 the temp goes back to norm and the power is back to norm?? any ideas.
Mike.

[thepickle]

When my old man had an 03 leon cupra (same engine as mk4 golf gti), a very similar thing to what you describe happened when I was driving it one time. I accelerated hard away from traffic lights onto a dual carriageway, the temperature gauge beeped at me and I looked down and it was in the red. The car went into “limp mode” where it limited the revs to just over 3000rpm iirc, is this what you mean when you say “loses power”? I backed right off and managed to get home taking it very easy, anything over about 2000rpm had the temp gauge rising. It needed a new water pump; I think it’s quite a common problem on the vag 1.8 20v turbo from what I’ve read on some vag forums. So it could be that....then again it may be something totally different!

[mike1969]

thanks for the advice, yes i think your right, all the levels are ok and i got home ok at snail speed, looks like a trip to the vag workshops in the morning, thanks again, Mike.

[thepickle]

Just whilst I’m thinking about it....I think the common problem with the water pumps used on this engine is the plastic impellor in the pump has a tendency to break up. You can get a water pump that has a metal impellor and this is much less likely to fail so if your problem turns out to be the water pump, that is worth bearing in mind

[mike1969]

Just got a price to fix it, new water pump plus cambelt change (as the belt needs changing in 5k) £505.97, did'nt think that was to bad, what do you think?

[thepickle]

I'm no expert on these things but that seems a bit strong to me!! Have a search for “water pump” on uk-mkivs.net. I’ve just had a quick look and someone was saying they had belt/tensioner/water pump all done for under £315 at a dealer! Here’s the thread clicky. I’d phone a couple of different places before getting the work done because sometimes the quotes will vary massively. I can’t remember how much ours was because it was a fully maintained company car at the time, its funny how you don’t care when you’re not picking up the bill isn’t it

[mike1969]

I've had 2 quotes 25 quid apart, The cheaper one is the garage that i've used in the past on my old vr6 and never had a bad job from them, its the labour thats the killer, just dont tell my wife!!