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[henryd]

The one that failed was a Vetech which I now realise is GSF own brand which cost £22.

The one I have just bought is an INA (£45.90 +vat).

I imagine that if I had a trade account at Vospers I might have got the genuine part for half the list price

I'm trade but rarely do better than 10% at Ford, Ina is good 

[Shackeng]

Get yourself some cards made up Andy. I've found most suppliers, including main dealers, will give trade prices if you blag it with a card.

[Andy H]

Get yourself some cards made up Andy. I've found most suppliers, including main dealers, will give trade prices if you blag it with a card.

I should have done as advised with Screwfix before I built my house extension. The bulk of the materials came from a builder's merchant and we agreed a decent percentage off before I started.

The convenience purchases made on my way home from work at Screwfix mounted up over time

[Andy H]

Thanks to everyone for wishing us well.

The Galaxy has returned.

The local garage are booked up solid until next week so I suppose I am going to have to fix it  (and rediscover the sad truth that 50% of the bolts on a VAG TDi are B-starred-bolts

When the pump failed did it shed its timing belt ?

No - engine still running fine with no loss of power

The dash lit up like a Christmas tree and I pulled over to the hard shoulder as quick as I could. There is an auxiliary coolant pump that runs on for a few minutes and I am hoping that it has allowed the engine to cool evenly and avoid permanent damage to head or head gasket

The AA man confirmed my snap diagnosis by disconnecting the little hose to the top of the expansion bottle and getting me to rev the engine. He didn't get the anticipated jet of coolant

The old pump is now out but I cannot find anything wrong with it
I have tried putting the impeller in a pan of boiling hot water but it seems to be solidly attached to the shaft.

I know I should have tried to confirm the previous diagnosis but then the engine would have been too hot to work on till later and I wouldn't have had the window of opportunity to do the job (both offspring at nursery all day).

[henryd]

Thanks to everyone for wishing us well.

The Galaxy has returned.

The local garage are booked up solid until next week so I suppose I am going to have to fix it  (and rediscover the sad truth that 50% of the bolts on a VAG TDi are B-starred-bolts

When the pump failed did it shed its timing belt ?

No - engine still running fine with no loss of power

The dash lit up like a Christmas tree and I pulled over to the hard shoulder as quick as I could. There is an auxiliary coolant pump that runs on for a few minutes and I am hoping that it has allowed the engine to cool evenly and avoid permanent damage to head or head gasket

The AA man confirmed my snap diagnosis by disconnecting the little hose to the top of the expansion bottle and getting me to rev the engine. He didn't get the anticipated jet of coolant

The old pump is now out but I cannot find anything wrong with it
I have tried putting the impeller in a pan of boiling hot water but it seems to be solidly attached to the shaft.

I know I should have tried to confirm the previous diagnosis but then the engine would have been too hot to work on till later and I wouldn't have had the window of opportunity to do the job (both offspring at nursery all day).

Thats a bugger,next step is to check that the stat hasn't broken up as they are prone to that as well

[Andy H]

The old pump is now out but I cannot find anything wrong with it
I have tried putting the impeller in a pan of boiling hot water but it seems to be solidly attached to the shaft.

I know I should have tried to confirm the previous diagnosis but then the engine would have been too hot to work on till later and I wouldn't have had the window of opportunity to do the job (both offspring at nursery all day).

Thats a bugger,next step is to check that the stat hasn't broken up as they are prone to that as well

I have had the thermostat out. It appears to be complete so I gave it a test in a pan of water.

It is marked as 87degC - when I got the water to 90+ degrees the thermostat opened a little but I am not convinced it is opening fully.

I have fitted the new pump and new cam belt kit. I refitted the old stat just so I could get it running but I will buy a new one tomorrow.

[Bigron]

Someone clever will confirm - or shoot me down - but I don't think it will open full until much hotter than that. I have always understood that the marked temperature is the "just opening" temperature: if so, yours is fairly near the mark.

Ron.

[Bigron]

I've just checked on the HowStuffWorks website and it backs up what i said:-

"Once the temperature of the coolant rises to between 180 and 195 F (82 - 91 C), the thermostat starts to open, allowing fluid to flow through the radiator. By the time the coolant reaches 200 to 218 F (93 - 103 C), the thermostat is open all the way."

Ron.

[Andy H]

So 11 or 12deg to go fully open. If the stat starts to open at 87degC then it should be fully open at 98 or 99 degC.

I did try pouring a kettle full of boiling water over the element of the stat but it didn't move very far hence trying again in a pan with a thermometer.

[Bigron]

In view of the stated possibly up to 103 degrees C to fully open, might I suggest that you use cooking oil to test your thermostat? It won't boil and if your thermostat is clean, SWMBO won't complain!

Ron.

[Kevin Wood]

Most thermostats need to be in a pan of vigourously boiling water to open any more than a little bit, IME. Yours sounds pretty much par for the course.

Coolant won't boil until 115-120 degrees C if it's under pressure and has a decent antifreeze concentration so i'm sure it'd be substantially open before that.

Is the coolant cap OK? Does the system pressurise as it heats up?

[Andy H]

Gauge was pointing to 130 when I pulled over (but I don't have much faith in VW instruments telling the unvarnished truth )

Coolant is good. I changed it last year. Pressure cap seems to be good, I don't think any coolant escaped before the AA man loosened the cap.

I have spent the afternoon trying to get the engine hot enough to trigger the electric cooling fans.

With the climate switched on the cooling fans run continuously and the thermostat seems to be functioning fine as I couldn't get the temperature to rise above 87ish.

With climate off the highest coolant temperature that VCDS reported was 97 degrees but I couldn't get the fans to kick in.

[JamesV6CDX]

Only thinking out loud, but, if it didn't lose / force out coolant, and didn't boil over, and was still running with no power loss, etc etc etc......

Is there a possibility the temperature sensor was telling porkies (false warning?)

Maybe worth starting it from cold, and comparing the temperatures in the live data to the gauge and the "actual" temperature?

If it were me, from what you've described, I would change the stat, and use the car alone semi locally for a week or so and see how it behaves
 
You've done the pump, so if you do the stat too - there isn't much left, cooling wise, that will cause significant overheating, save for a big blockage or head / gasket trouble (which seems unlikely with how quick it happened, and how quick you caught it).



As for over 2 hours on the hard shoulder of a motorway, with kids in the car, before being recovered, that stinks   

[Andy H]

I  have changed the pump and cambelt - didn't find any fault with the pump. It has had a week of local use and hasn't played up but I won't feel confident enough to take the family on a longer journey  until I have been able to work out what happened 


Worried now that it might be the thermoswitch or clogged radiator or even early stage head gasket failure.

Temperature gauge on the dash tracks the reading from VCDS until 90 degrees but lies above 90 (it sat pointing at 90 even though VCDS read 97)

[Varche]

Gosh. What a pain. I dislike faults that could be something or nothing. Have you got a you got a younger  family member you could send on a longer journey?  Working on the principle that a breakdown would be an adventure for them rather than a pain for us older folk.