air from heater not warm...

[big3etr]

My wife's 03 1.8T started blowing not so warm air 2 nights ago. She turned a corner, then the temp light flashed red and beeped a couple times, then wnet cold. The coolant was a bit low, but just below the min on the full area. I felt the hose in front of the thermostat, and it was cold. The other hoses to the drivers side in the 'T' were hot. I assumed it was the T-stat, so I changed it today. It was not the problem. Now after reading on here I am leaning towards the water pump. The wifey's car has 85,562 miles as of this morning. There have been no issues or hints of anything coming. The car drove fine after I changed the T-stat, to check the heat again. I let it get warm in the driveway for 15ish minutes. I also did not notice the fans turning on either. I am willing to change the timing belt and water pump tomorrow, but not totally sure that is the problem. There is no out of the ordinary noises in the engine bay either. Any help would be great.

BTW, I have searched these forums for 2 days trying to get a good feel for the issue, but have been left with many possibilities, so I thought I'd post a thread about it.

[eliteboi]

86k and you haven't changed the TB and WP? Your crazy! My guess would be that the plastic impeller in the waterpump has cracked like mine did and is not circulating the coolant, like my car.

Make sure you get a good kit! Make sure it has a WP with the metal impeller. My car also showed no signs that it was on it's way out either...

ECS tunning has pretty good deals, that's where I got my kit from.

p.s don't drive the car with it the way it is, i'm sure you know that if that WP is on it's way out, and it seizes you'll be spending lots more money!

[big3etr]

yup, it's not going anywhere. I have a friend coming over tomorrow to help me tackle the tbelt & wp. Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the help.

Do the fans play a part in this scenario? I don't see them as a big part of this mess.

[Smileybug]

I will say that even if its not the cause, changing the tbelt and water pump is a good idea. At 86k, you are overdue. Not by 10's of thousands of miles, but the interval is usually 60-80k. I did mine in my 2.0 at 77k. But I think its likely the water pump failing.

As for the fans, are they not working at all? Is the car actually overheating? Or are you just wondering?

[big3etr]

Originally Posted by Smileybug

I will say that even if its not the cause, changing the tbelt and water pump is a good idea. At 86k, you are overdue. Not by 10's of thousands of miles, but the interval is usually 60-80k. I did mine in my 2.0 at 77k. But I think its likely the water pump failing.

As for the fans, are they not working at all? Is the car actually overheating? Or are you just wondering?

just wondering. I have only seen the temp light come on the 1 time and it went off in like 15 seconds. all the times i let the car idle, it never came on. But I didnt stand next to the car the whole time to watch for the fans, maybe they came on, but I didn't see it.

[eliteboi]

Try turning the AC on and seeing if they kick on, but I still doubt that's why it's overheating

[big3etr]

Sooo, after tearing the car apart, It was the POS wp afterall. The plastic impeller had come apart in 3 pieces. Now the issue I have is getting the timing belt back on. No matter how I try, it seems like the one I got from blauparts online is too short. I know lots of peeps who buy parts from them and have never had an issue. I cannot seem to get it to go on. I have tried every combo of sprockets to try to get it on. I have spent more than 2 hours dealing with this. I am at my wits end on how the POS goes back on.