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Originally Posted by Dejvid1785
I don't have any smoke out of the exhaust or milky oil, but i am losing coolant!! Could that still be thermostat or something else? My temp gauge never stays still it sits up top showing that its over heating but the car isn't over heating and is driveable and suddenly it jumps back down, if anybody knows answer me. Thanx!
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The needle going up and down can be a sign of a sticky thermostat, or improperly installed thermostat. The installation direction of the thermostat is often counter intuitive, it opens against the flow, but the housing does not prevent you from installing it backwards.
Gas Bubbles in your cooling system can also cause irractic temp needle behavior, this is usually bad, it does sound like you have an exhaust-to-coolant BHG, if you are losing coolant consistantly. And it will not show in your exaust, other than maybe being slightly more steamy.
The first few things I do to a newly aquired MKIII is a valve job with a new head gasket (I use metal laminated graphite, coated with teflon gaskets, usually from NAPA, and replace all the bolts with ARP, the teflon does a great job dealing with the aluminum head-to-cast iron block shearing that occurs with temp extremes, it actually reseals itself). Second thing to do, convert to all electric fans, it will keep your temp under control better, and give you a little snappier response on the throttle with out the fan drag.
I have driven both a MKII and MKIII from Oregon through the Nevada desert up Mt Rose (8000+ ft) to Lake Tahoe in July, and you will not make it up that grade without electric fans or stopping to cool off.