Larry,

Chris' last post said the radiator hoses were not hot after 15 mins...
sounds like a flow problem, not a sensor problem.

Bad T-stat, clogged radiator, or dead water pump get my votes, in that
order. The cold rad. hoses make me lean toward the first two possible
causes... even a weak pump should move enough coolant to warm up the
radiator hoses. I don't think the impeller can separate completely and
leave the pump looking intact (though moving no coolant at all)... but it's
been a couple of years since I held a 1.9 water pump in my hands, I could
be wrong about that.

Tim

At 12:42 PM 2/6/2006 -0600, Larry Alofs wrote:
>Chris,
>  Can you use a meter to check the resistance of the temperature sensor
>when the engine is cold and hot?
>I believe the Bentley has a graph of the correct values.
>  Are you really sure that the engine is overheating?
>
>Larry A.
>
>
>JordanVw@AOL.COM wrote:
>
>>ok, well i swapped my whole instrument cluster.  and the needle still reads
>>over the red dot. sooo...its not the gauge in the dash.
>>
>>i started the van, let idle for like 15 mins..   main coolant tank and lines
>>out of tank were hot.   but hoses at front "firewall" were not hot.   hoses
>>coming out of bottom of rad were not hot.
>>
>>heater blows hot air.   running the heater didnt seem to have any effect on
>>the temperature gauge..
>>
>>
>>my guess is thermostat...?
>>
>>chris
>>
>>