I agree wholeheartedly with the responses from Dennis Haynes and John
Bange and I additionally throw out this question.  How is it better for
the head gaskets and hoses when the temperatures are all over the place
and the system still pressurizes to the same PSI?

When I first bought my '85 Westy the thermostat was stuck open.  This
caused the engine to run poorly in winter and I had to cover about 3/4
of the radiator just so the engine would run right ... and that was only
after it took forever to warm up.  I replaced the thermostat with the
standard temperature version (87�) at the earliest opportunity.

Do yourself and your engine a favor and put a proper thermostat in there
ASAP.  I recommend you get one from a VW parts vendor and not a regular
FLAPS (Friendly Local Auto Parts Store) as the generic versions can be
problematic.

Mike
'84 GL 7 passenger
'84 GL Westy
'85 GL Westy