cooling on an AGU

[tommymac]

Hey guys just a quick question,

If my thermostat is munted on a AGU would it prevent the coolant flowing back through the motor?

I have this annoying issue, p.s my radiator is mounted upside down your will see this reason when you see the car!

So the top pipe (alloy) got to 90 degrees today and the bottom pipe (alloy) returning into the block was stone cold my after market temp gauge in the bottom pipe was reading 40 degrees which cannot be right! being the top pipe was 90! unless my radiator is super amazing and somehow has the ultimate cooling properties!

any ideas? ( ps my tridon thermo switch is set to 80-85 but also failed to come on ah ( thats OK autoone gave me the wrong one) now i know the temp sender and the thermo switch work because i put them in my kettle and it all worked plus i tested the switch on my volt meter!

so i guess i am asking 1) would this be a thermostat issue?

[h100vw]

I think you should check the pump. Start the motor and let it warm up. Squeeze the top hose tight as you can and rev it up. You should feel the pipe swell up if the pump is good and feel nothing if it's busted.

I had the pump fail on my A3, I changed the stat and it made no difference. Have you seen the gauge go over 90 degrees?

Gavin

[tommymac]

the pump[ was just replaced with the ones with the metal pump as i know the plastic ones **** themselves a lot, i dont have an OEM cluster atm so I am using the after market one in the bottom hose, now i did have a thermometer in the top hose and thats how i know the temp was at 90 degrees

[h100vw]

Thats good then, let me have another think

[h100vw]

How long was the engine running for. It's possible that the top hose/rad were only heated by conduction and not by the water flowing around the engine.

The water at the stat might not have been warm enough to open it up?

Gavin

[tommymac]

unless the radiator being upside down is an issue?

[h100vw]

Nah, dont see that as a problem, the water wont know which way its going through.

Same with an intercooler, it might flow better one way but not that big a percentage difference in flow that it would cause any issues.

Did you test the stat before fitting it?

Has it boiled over at all?

Gavin

[tommymac]

the stat is the original stat so im assuming it works, now the car was at 90 but yes it may not have been 90 in reality, erm no it hasn't boiled over and im not sure what temp AGU thermostats open at do you know? and should i put the thermometer near the stat?

[Golf Loon]

Try adding more coolant to the system when it is cold and see if it takes more. There may be air bubbles causing false readings.

I`m more excited by the fact that you have an AGU running in your Mk2
Now we want pics.

[Jmac]

Never assume with a stat mate, i think thats it. Ive had new ones from the box munted too mate. Starts to open at around 82 degrees approx and finishes opening around 105 degrees. Doesnt matter if the rad is upside down, the rad cools across the way, headers are at each end and not top like back in the day. Coolant flows across from the top hose to the bottom hose. If the stat is stuck i would say the heat on the top hose is the heat transfer from the engine, stuck stat not letting it circulate.
Go the stat mate
Jmac

[tommymac]

will do mate, im going to get the one which opens at 82 for safety reasons!

[tommymac]

eh so there is no stat that opens at 82! gay,

anyway something is very wrong here! there most be a huge airlock somewhere the only thing that i can think of is my cooling is not plumbed in the same as OEM AGU's for example nipple on the radiator is not flowing back to my bottom rad hose its T'd into the return on the hoses to the expansion tank would that be an issue?

[Golf Loon]

I did research when I put the AEB into the Rocco. I looked at all the build threads I could find on the interweb and how the cooling plumbing was in each picture. That helped me lots and I basically made the closest approximation I could with that engine and car configuration.

Here are a couple I nicked from qpeng for you.

http://www.qpeng.com/images/guide/IMG_1614.sized.jpg

http://www.qpeng.com/images/guide/IMG_1623.sized.jpg

http://www.qpeng.com/images/guide/IMG_1616.sized.jpg

http://www.qpeng.com/images/guide/IMG_1607.sized.jpg

[tommymac]

yer i need to find someone with an AGU cos I have no clue what is going on ere

[Jmac]

Mate show us u pic of the set up, i know you probably wnat to keep the car low key at this stage, but a pic of your cooling set up might help us champ. Have you tried running it with the stat out??? i know its not the greatest idea in the long term from a fuelling point of view but just to see how it circulates. Mate email a pic if you like
Jmac