Hello, I am pretty sure that my thermostat is stuck open because my car will warm up when running but not driving but when I start driving it just goes straight to cold after a little bit. My question is I was wondering if there is anyway to get at it with out removing the timing belt? its a 98 2.8l quattro if that matters.

 

Yes you can - we did mine that way a few months back. You still have to put the car in service position and do 95% of the t-belt teardown, but you can stop disassembly once the upper timing covers are off.

What we did was to slide the belt halfway off the passenger exhaust cam sprocket (one guy held it and was threatened with injury if he let go). There are two bolts (12mm I think) that hold the t-stat channeling plate on. Take them off and you'll have just enough room to force it out and over the t-stat frame - I used a screwdriver and hammer to tap it out of the way. Then pull the t-stat, clean everything, put in the new one, and reassemble. Unless you just did the t-belt though, you may as well just do it and the tensioner while you're in there.

Make sure before starting that you index cylinder 3 at TDC on the compression stroke so that if the t-belt slips off, you'll be fine (indexed that way, the cams won't spin if the belt comes off).

If you do a search for "thermostat" you should find quite a few threads and in one of the more recent ones you'll find pics of my car under the knife for this.

 

before u do all that... verify that your ETC sensor isnt malfunctioning

 

Worth checking (actually worth changing just because it's cheap and prone to fail), but that behavior is classic t-stat failure behavior. When idling the engine warms but once you start driving, airflow through the radiator cools it and since the t-stat is open, the coolant isn't inside the block long enough to absorb heat and drive the gauge up.

My bet is that his heat is good when idling too, but a lot less efficient and effective once he starts driving.

 

well i have similar issues to his... like the car warms up like normal, but occasionally the temp gauge drops all low... but it goes back up too... plus im throwing a codes for the temp sensor too thats why i know what my problem is haha

 

So you replaced your ECT sensor a while back with the black one i told you not to use and you're still having gauge issues?.......Or have you not replaced it yet?

 

it hasnt been replaced yet... the dealership said it comes in on tuesday

 

Bring it to the shop today after class to have it looked at.
I just got the car and I believe the timing belt was changed about 20000 miles and
I am broke *** right now other wise I would just get it all done...