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2007 vw golf overheating


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vwproblems
Novice

Jun 5, 2018, 2:50 PM

Post #1 of 18 (2363 views)
  post locked   2007 vw golf overheating  

hi, I recently bought myself a 2007 vw golf city (gasoline) I almost immediately started having issues with the car overheating. coolant loss due to boiling over the reservoir. I first took the car to a vw dealership, they replaced the master fan and told me it was fixed. it was not. I then took it to a local mechanic and I have replaced the the reservoir and cap, thermostat, radiator,the system has been flushed, yet still the lower radiator hose is always stone cold, and the upper hose is hot. I also had the pump checked which seems to be working fine. At this point even my mechanic has no clue what it could be. I don't believe its a blown head gasket as there is no white smoke, no milky oil, and I don't see bubbling in the reservoir when starting and running the car. it does boil over the reservoir however and steam up. The temp gauge goes up to almost 130, however when I place my hand on the engine after, it doesn't seem really hot aside from the boiling coolant. I'm really hoping one of you could point me into the right direction


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Jun 5, 2018, 4:17 PM

Post #2 of 18 (2351 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

With the previous overheating you just may have a blown head gasket. They will have to do some testing to find out.



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vwproblems
Novice

Jun 5, 2018, 4:26 PM

Post #3 of 18 (2346 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

it is not a previous overheating issue, its still going on. Also I don't think that this is a blown head gasket as there is no white smoke, no milky oil, and no bubbling in coolant, I also have not noticed any misfiring of the engine.


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Jun 5, 2018, 4:46 PM

Post #4 of 18 (2342 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

OK, you know more than us. Why are you here?



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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



vwproblems
Novice

Jun 5, 2018, 5:07 PM

Post #5 of 18 (2338 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

what I meant was that my mechanic, had said and I believe, is that because of all of those reasons the head gasket is not blown, maybe it is, but just looking to see if anything else could be the culprit. I was just asking to see if any other things could cause this. sorry to have offended.


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Jun 5, 2018, 5:21 PM

Post #6 of 18 (2321 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

I have diagnosed dozens of blown head gaskets and I can tell you that 90% of them didn't have any of those symptoms. Most of those symptoms only show up in very extreme failures and things like milky oil is very rare and usually only happens when the head cracks.

If you have a small leak between the compression and coolant port, it will pump hot exhaust into the cooling system. I would also question why the coolant coming out of the radiator is stone cold. That makes me really suspect a problem with the thermostat, possibly stuck or installed backwards.



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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



vwproblems
Novice

Jun 5, 2018, 5:30 PM

Post #7 of 18 (2316 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

If it happens to be a head gasket, what do you suppose is the best course of action? Is there any cheaper alternative to completely having to change the head gasket?
as far as the thermostat I don't know if it has been installed backwards, I know that he ran the system without a thermostat, and I believe he had the same results.


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Jun 5, 2018, 5:39 PM

Post #8 of 18 (2308 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  


Quote
Is there any cheaper alternative to completely having to change the head gasket?


Hell no. In fact it's not just a matter of replacing the gasket. The head has to be sent out to a machine shop to have the surface machined and the head pressure tested.

You don't state how many miles are on this engine but if it is high mileage, I would seriously have second thoughts about doing it at all. The increase in compression can overload the rest of the engine and bring around premature failure of the lower end. Depending how hot it has gotten in the past, it may already have lower end damage.



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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



vwproblems
Novice

Jun 5, 2018, 5:43 PM

Post #9 of 18 (2304 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

This is not sounding so good, well I'll have it tested and hope for the best.
I don't think the car is worth the effort in that case.

thanks for your help.


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Jun 5, 2018, 5:45 PM

Post #10 of 18 (2300 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

That was the point I was making.



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vwproblems
Novice

Jun 6, 2018, 2:10 PM

Post #11 of 18 (2248 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

Update, I went to my mechanic today, he still does not think the head gasket is bad, he had the car idling with no problem for well over 3 hours. The car only seems to overheat when driving up a steeper hill.
I really don't know what it is anymore. He says he will work on it some more tomorrow but if that does not bring any results I will have it chemically tested for the head gasket. If anyone has any other ideas what the problem could be please let me know.

Thanks,


Tom Greenleaf
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Jun 6, 2018, 2:59 PM

Post #12 of 18 (2245 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

Just a point: It was said this can hit 130, Celsius that must be is close enough to melt some metals never mind warp against "dissimilar" metals then when cool seal tight.
That would be a crack most likely IMO. It boils and really should if it holds a near universal 15lb pressure cap mix wouldn't boil till over 257F (I don't speak Celsiius just BTW) it's over that temp! That's boiling and vapor doesn't cool so area will be unknown higher temps than just what it reads if accurate it doesn't measure temp in every spot in the system.


This smacks of a bad head or head gasket even if checked could escape notice and only get that hot under load which was mentioned so would behave when checked NOT under that load,


T



Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Jun 6, 2018, 3:04 PM

Post #13 of 18 (2243 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

Two things have the symptom of only heating up at higher RPM and load. Those are a clogged radiator or a blown head gasket.

Fair warning, chemical tests aren't all that reliable either. They usually only respond to severe situations. The most reliable test is using an exhaust analyzer to sniff the fumes at the radiator cap for hydrocarbons.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



vwproblems
Novice

Jun 6, 2018, 4:38 PM

Post #14 of 18 (2234 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

I really don't think it would come close to melting the metal, metals like iron will melt at around 1500 degrees C and aluminum around 600 I think. As far as a crack it could be possible, I might have that checked.

thanks,


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Jun 6, 2018, 6:19 PM

Post #15 of 18 (2229 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

You seem to want to debate everything a professional tells you.

The head is aluminum. What do you think the combustion temperature is at the point it is leaking out of the cylinder against the aluminum head with no coolant in the area? 1500 degrees maybe?

Do you think we just made that up like it has never happened before? We see melted and totally warped heads all the time from overheating.



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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.



Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Tom Greenleaf profile image

Jun 7, 2018, 1:08 AM

Post #16 of 18 (2210 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

Uggh! Let's try to avoid a brain twist converting temperatures and which metals will do what at a given temp. An engine has assorted metals each with characters where they will crack, warp or plain melt. Cracks when cooled back down may seal tight again if melted it lost it's shape would leak or not work again close to the same.


Aluminum and alloys of that are their own. These metals also expand and contract at different amounts is the common first problem to be overcome for an engine.
Back to a point. Temp have been seen exceed limits already at the spot point where it was checking we don't know what the other end or a side of the engine's real temp was could be double that especially since we already know coolant (mostly liquid or vapor depending on temp/pressure) was a vapor by default it had to be cooled and liquid again when checked but was behaving again too.


It wasn't when going uphill under load so now the frustration is knowing where it failed becomes elusive. Gaskets are a mix or sandwich of metals to seal are a weal link well known even those can be made of different materials.


Yes - we see the results and melted parts when everything fails if taken apart just what happened but are not there yet to see it so going by experience. Engine parts, manifolds on back to in fact melt - valves crack, heads crack, gaskets crack and or can go liquid now not even the right general shape.
That's the problem with this nobody is seeing with their testing or plain eyesight. We have mostly AFTER the damage when all is lost and engines are no good anymore and you are playing in that area!


When one of these type issues comes along I personally want a few tests to blame it on this include the exhaust gas tests too already mentioned. There's enough already for me this needs to come apart for inspection by now just oil couldn't take those temps so it's sludge the insult to injury is ongoing.


People and tech and worse videos are plain wrong that you must see steam, oil mixing with coolant or there isn't a problem isn't true.


Get going it's got enough bad news to just go for it or do the autopsy later to find out who was correct but the engine will already be history and you'll know for sure.


Drop all the techno garbage just know engines that burn anything do NOT tolerate heat well and is the problem with this one has to be totally controlled new and now or this is what you get,


Tom



vwproblems
Novice

Jun 7, 2018, 4:22 AM

Post #17 of 18 (2201 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

Thanks for your advice everyone, I'm happy to say my mechanic changed the waterpump for good measure, and the engine seems to be running fine. under a lot force the old one seemed to fail and the impeller would come loose.


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Jun 7, 2018, 4:28 AM

Post #18 of 18 (2195 views)
  post locked   Re: 2007 vw golf overheating  

Sounds like you may have lucked out. Time will tell. That's not something that I have even seen happen before.

Closing this now as solved.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.







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