Thermostat Woes

If you are into do-it-yourself maintenance, get a Bentley service manual.

What Papa said and change the thermostat housing and cover too! They are plastic and seem to warp after X years and don't seem to be very expensive either. Try to be responsible catching the coolant coming out.

(Haynes version) Basically you remove hoses to the thermostat housing and cover, remove necessary bolts (and clips as needed) and replace. Some will use a very very very thin covering of RTV on the seals. I have found if you remove the ign. coil pack you will have more room to work with. :-) And use NEW seals please!!!

later, dave (One out of many daves)

It sounds like a lot of fun. It can't be as bad as the heater core I just replaced though. I have not had much luck finding a manual that covers this car. The parts house where I got the thermostat did not have any seals listed as being available. Here we go again!

There is a Bentley Service Manual for your '95 Passat, and it is available from many sources. For example,

I messed up when I originally submitted my question. The car is actually a 96 model.

...and there is a Bentley manual for it as well.

Doesn't matter it's still the same procedure.

If you ask a technical question, and don't want to bother with important details, you can expect some sarcasm.