alex.syed

My 1.8t has been overheating and i have norrowed the problem down to two. Either the waterpump is dead. Or the thermostat is bad. I want to exmine the thermostat before i rip open the car to chech the pump. If someone could please tell me where the thermostat is or send me a pic. I will really appreciate it.

Thanks

Alex

lyleswk

How many miles? When was the last time the water pump was replaced and was it a metal or plastic impeller?

To answer your question, the thermostat is beneath the alternator on the driver's side of the engine; see link for DIY with pictures. Not much to look at as it is electronically controlled vice the old fashioned thermal control (can't drop in a boiling pot of water to check).

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...at-Replacement

Edub04

Your going to have to rip the car apart to get to the thermostat. Check out the DIY in the tech articles.

Pete@ECSTuning

You take quite a bit off to get to the thermostat properly. How long has it been since your water pump and thermostat have been changed? It is a good questions as if it has been 75k - 100k or never, you may be looking at a bad water pump impeller.

lyleswk

As I noted below, "when" is important. My TB et al had not been replaced in at least 75K, and the previous owner did not know when it was replaced before that. The water pump that came off had a loose bearing.

Another random thought; since this is a "smart" thermostat, does anyone know it it throws a code if it commands a position and doesn't get that position?

alex.syed

i have bought an aftermarket pump..but alot of my friends have been telling me to check the thermostat before i rip open the car to get to the waterpump

thanks for the reply

alex.syed

And the biggest thing is tht my car only has 40k miles on it! I'm really leaning towards the broken impeller more than anything, but i also wanna check the thermostat just in case.

alex.syed

btw..is there any simple way to do something like feeling the pipes to detect if the thermostat has opened?

lyleswk

If your thermostat is stuck closed, the pressure in the hose going to the thermostat would be high and therefore the hose would feel "firm". If the thermostat was open and the pump impeller was not creating flow / pressure, the hose would feel "soft". Problem is, just from my lack of experience, what is "normal", what is "soft", and what is "firm"? Maybe there is a tech out there that can give us a clue.

Pete@ECSTuning

If it is stuck open, which it isn't because you are over heating, one hose would be hot and one would be "cold"

If it is stuck closed, they will both be hot because water is not circulating through the radiator, it is clogged up by a closed thermostat.

You have a b6 a4 with 40k miles?! What year?