Will low coolant cause a car to overheat?
Coolant helps pull heat away from the engine. So, without enough coolant, the engine could overheat or seize up.
Does lower radiator hose get hot?
When an engine is warming up, the thermostat is closed, and neither the top or bottom radiator hose will be hot. Once the thermostat opens, hot coolant will flow to the radiator. The top hose will be hit, and the lower hose will be somewhat less so.
Are both radiator hoses supposed to be hot?
Cabin heat comes from hot coolant, so drive long enough to warm up the engine. If coolant temperature is acceptable, feel both heater hoses, which should be hot.
Where is the coolant on a VW Golf?
Fitting a thermostat on some golfs is a real doddle (1.6 and 1.4 AEE/AEX engines in particular) as it’s in a housing on top of the engine. That means you lose barely any coolant. Other models based on the big block (possibly some 1.6s, all the 1.8s and 2.0s) will most likely need the water pump off to change the stat.
Is the lower radiator hose hot or cold?
The upper radiator hose is extremely hot, the lower radiator hose is cold. The thermostat has been replaced 3 times now. They have all been put in boiling water, and they all opened. The car has been parked on an inclined and filled with coolant, been jacked up and filled, we’ve used the cap to vent, we’ve used the bleeder to vent.
What causes a VW Golf head gasket to overheat?
Head gasket issues are fairly rare on VWs. Best case is one or several of the following: the rad has frozen, or the air intakes have been blocked by snow, or the thermostat is dead, or the water pump is dead, and that’s caused a simple overheat, and the head gasket is undamaged.
Can a bad radiator hose cause an engine to overheat?
2. Engine overheating. The vehicle’s engine should not overheat, so as soon as you notice this symptom, it means something is wrong with the cooling system. The radiator hose may be to blame because they crack and leak over the years from the high heat and pressure they are exposed to.