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2002 Jetta Wagon 1.8T overheating problem

My auto has developed an overheating problem and I cannot figure out why. First I'll say I'm handy, and I'll be diving into this problem over the weekend, but I did take the thing into the shop today.

The shop ran diagnostics on the car and came up with nothing...so at the very least, I'm having the cooling system flushed, because it could probably use it anyway.

The problem itself is strange to me. With the car running at idle, temperature on the dash guage stays at 190, but any consistent driving over 1500 rpms or so will begin to raise the temperature above 190...if I try driving on the interstate, 50-60 mph, the temp guage will climb to 3/4 full or more...halfway between the 190 and 260 hashes. As soon as I bring the car back to idle, the temperature drops rapidly. When the temperature is higher than 190, I notice a sharp drop off in power. When the termp guage is at normal/190 the turbo definitely spins up and the car seems to have all of its power, but if i'm running at 50mph with the temp guage climbing towards the red, I can stomp on the accelerator and get next to nothing...and the turbo definitely doesn't spin up.

Any thoughts would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Reply to
Joshua Gramlich
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1-Yes, if you continue to drive the car you will do engine damage. MELT DOWN! 2-Do the rad fans run when the AC is turned on, they should on low speed. 3-warranty should cover the issue because my guess is the waterpump needs replaced. 4-waterpump is 4 or 5 years and 60,000miles

Reply to
Lost In Space/Woodchuck

I finally found my extra good mechanic, and it's not a water pump problem. I've yet to take the car in...going soon, but I went in and spoke with him recently and he'd finished my problem explanation before I could...i.e. he was telling me I was losing power before I even got to that part of the story.

So far, his claim is that the issue is with the timing belt. I'm not sure on the specifics but it has something to do with the timing being slightly off and the plugs firing just after the piston is at TDC, instead of slightly before, and at high rpms this causes some major heat. Another thing i've noticed, but this is anecdotal, is that the car seems to have lost a lot of engine efficiency. I'm burning more fuel than normal as far as I can tell.

Reply to
Joshua Gramlich

He is correct. Timing being off can cause heat as well as changes in power and indirectly your fuel consumption as well (if it's not firing at the right time and therefore not burning the fuel properly).

If your car is approaching whatever interval it is for replacing the timing belt (usually 60K miles but check your owners manual), just have it replaced.

Reply to
Matt B.

I'm not sure if I totally agree with his idea that the timing belt is off. If it was off one tooth then you would have a MIL on and fault for G40 sensor. Also ignition timing is more controlled by the crankshaft position sensor feeding information to the ECU for it to process.

Reply to
Lost In Space/Woodchuck

Me thinks he found an extra good scamming mechanic if the above is true. :-)

Reply to
Peter Parker

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