Golf MkII running very hot

[espoo110]

I recently bought an 1.3l -89 Golf Mk2. After just a few kilometers the temp gauge rises to 3/4 and the warning light starts blinking. If i keep on going it cools down a little bit but it doesn't sink far from 3/4. The fan works and there's enough coolant. Can I get some help troubleshooting?

[SleepyHead98]

thermostat or water pump

[espoo110]

Thanks for the quick answer. The coolant does cirkulate, not as effectively as it should though. Does the pumps wear out usually before they completely shut down?

[SleepyHead98]

In my experience yes. So you have coolant circulation, which means thermostat is okay and pump may or may not be okay. There might be a weephole on your waterpump that leaks when the pump is going out. You would be able to see coolant dripping from the waterpump, atleast that is how GMs Fords and what not. May not be getting enough fan circulation aswell.

Has the coolant ever been flushed? It might be gunked up.

Worst case scenerio, its head gasket.

[espoo110]

It hadn't been driven for 6 months and i don't think the coolant had been flushed in a long while. Just recently roadtripped 300km to a friend and it seemed to be running a lot better and cooler the next day after drive of a couple hours doing 100km/h. Probably cleaned the cloggs out. I still think i saw a little puddle of fresh coolant below the car after a quick stop on a gas station on the way back. i'm going to take a look at the pump since it's still running a little bit too warm. Still a lot better than last week.