So yeah, this is my first German car, and it's totally got me stumped. I've owned American my whole life, and I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to car's. But I am completely stumped on what to do with m car now.

I own a 1998 A4 1.8t, not quattro. One day while driving, my car started overheating, like to the point where the needle was pinned to the H. Got the car home and it's been in my garage ever since. I've changed the water pump, thermostat, radiator, coolant temp sensor as well as housing for sensor. I thought it might be the heater core, but I just got done bypassing that and still car overheats.

I'm stuck at what else it could be. There are no signs of the head gasket being gone. And I also noticed that my electric fan is not running, none at all. Tomorrow I plan on bypassing everything and running the fan to a switch.

But does anyone have any other ideas of what it could be? It's just weird that it overheated out of nowhere. At first I thought I messed something up, I changed the oil and started driving it and thats when it started overheating.

But Like I said, I have no idea. SOMEONE HELP ME OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

have you burped the system after replacing the thermostat, water pump and all that stuff?
i know that when i replaced mine, before i burped the system it was overheating, but once i turned the heater on and opened the res cap to let air out it was all good. i even had to add more coolant cuz there was so mcuh air stuck inside.

 

I'll have to try that tomorrow. I still have my heater core unhooked so I won't be able to do it tonight. I know yesterday I did it for a little, but I wasn't blowing hot air out of my vents, even as the car heated up. Thats why i'm so confused on what is going on still. I'll keep yah updated though tomorow when I burp it.

 

Could be a clogged core. try running just water through it

 

Well i actually have the heater core bypassed right now, so thats out of the equation. Thats why I'm not sure what else it could be.

Now if we don't use the recomended G12 coolant, will that cause the car to overheat? My local import shop said that I didn't have to use the G12, but again, i'm not to sure on that.

 

People have run regular coolant and have not overheated, but the big nono is to mix the G12 with something else.

 

Okay cool just wanted to make sure. I definitely didn't mix anything, like I said everything regarding the cooling system is brand new, so i did a complete flush of the system. Anyone want to come to NC and fix my car for me lol.