you've heard this before, I'm sure, I'm just trying to lock down the probably causes before I start hanging parts. The culprit: 91 Passat 4cyl (2.0l 16v engine). It spews coolant (boiling over) out of the tank when you run the engine more than a few minutes. When you fist turn the key, thr temp gauge immediately jumps up to about mid-scale, even if the car sat overnight to cool down. The temp gauge climbs higher and higher until you get scared and turn the car back off. The car runs fine otherwise (heard that before too? 8-) ). I definitely did not see the radiator fan coming on, but there has to be more than that going on. Nor did I see evidence of oil getting into the coolant (it leaves nice black stains on the coolant tank).
I see the coolant flowing into the tank, from the little return hose. I'm trying to figure if there's blockage somewhere, a bad thermostat (stuck closed), or a coolant pump that is tired. All of the right hoses appear to become appropriately warm, but I Haven't throughly checked them.
I'd like to figureout what's going on, before I tear it all apart, like I said. The car otherwise just needs some TLC, and it will be an nice ride (Calypso Green, stick shift, 106k miles, factory rear spoiler, sunroof, interior in decent shape)
Thanks in advance, Walter currently driving the penalty box-94 Saturn Automatic.