VOLKSWAGEN 2.5 THERMOSTAT REPLACEMENT

In this video I do a quick run through on how to replace the thermostat on a Jetta with a 2.5L 5 cylinder engine, the job is very similar on the beetle and rabbit with this engine as well, thanks for watching
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Thank you and thanks for watching

[@joeybrogna580]

Great video. Thank you. Tackled this today but still need to get myself some triple square bits, will finish the job tomorrow I’m sure! Thanks again.

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

No problem! Hope it goes smoothly

[@hushson9411]

Thank you for the video! On my way to the mechanic right now to instruct him on what to do.

[@E.cen.triq_Livin]

Lmao. If you gotta instruct the mechanic, get another one. STAT! 😂

[@DANIELDAVILA-xz1zp]

Thanks good job! Very educational.

[@imanuelboardman9987]

Thank you so much I appreciate the information

[@thereal_ledesma]

Thanks for the video. It helped out alot.

[@pedrocarralero805]

Thanks for the video helped a lot.

[@LasVegasVet]

So helpful thanks G

[@antoniogoldi1240]

Thank you . U did help someone

[@hondacivics4life]

Why didn't you just remove the alternator and bam the piece is right there

[@sandiegolife6192]

Great video big help

[@paulinojusaino9335]

Really contemplating on doing this job but its gotta get done now or never😂

[@johnnestor8332]

Thank you, great job!

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

Thanks for watching!

[@sfsandman4489]

thanks bro!

[@harleypointer5984]

Dude thank you

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

No problem man!

[@caseyhelmer6423]

This video was hella helpful bro. Thanks

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

Glad it helped you out!

[@caseyhelmer6423]

@@EuropeanAutoRepair hell I had to pull it apart twice. Got the thermostat changed out, car back together, codes cleared. She drives it to work and the alternator takes a crap. Voltage regulator. When you open the thermostat housing it dumps fluid directly on to the back of the alternator. I know they are supposed to be able to get wet to an extent but coolant is a different story.

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

@@caseyhelmer6423 dang! Sorry to hear that man, I haven’t seen that one happen yet on one of those, I’ve seen it on bmw with leaky oil filter housing gaskets tho

[@caseyhelmer6423]

@@EuropeanAutoRepair it’s a pain. The idler pulley that blocks the top alternator bolt from coming out has to come off. It has 3 screws , 1 of which is in the blind. So you do it by feel. Car evidently had been worked on before because the T30 screw was waddled out. I eventually had to use a dremmel and grind the top of the screw off . There was no getting around it. No room to drill into it, couldn’t get an overshot on it. Lucky the bracket isn’t spring loaded and it has the other 2 screws to keep it in place lol hell of a job. Gonna put it all back together when I get home in the morning.

[@ceelocee8328]

Yeeeeeah...I think I'll let the mechanics handle this... Not as easy as it sounds. Thanks for the info!

[@One.--]

I had an old Ford 69 truck man them day it took 5 minutes 😮 2 bolts😂

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

Hahah back when things made sense

[@gradywilson9213]

Great video, while you are at it throw some new piston rings, and resurface the valves 😊 thank you.

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

Haha thanks

[@user-cc6yr5to3t]

I can’t find the extension triple square for my 13 Passat help plz I went everywhere

[@chancepyburn4167]

Yeah I’m broke but not broke enough to do all this for the thermostat

[@halogod5426]

on a 2010 in 2023. i bought the thermostat because it was so cheap and THEN i looked up what the job was.

[@JoeInFresno]

Perfect comment, I said the same thing. LoL

[@THEFIREPPL]

I did all the labor just to find that the screw was stripped underneath 😢

[@guywithaname1]

lmao

[@gabeh.5061]

It’s a $900 job where I’m at apparently, so looks like I’ll be doing it myself lol. Don’t forget to replace the intake gaskets too while you’re there

[@harleypointer5984]

What about the fuel line we disconnect is there anything to do with the fuel pressure after you put the hose back on?

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

It should reattach and not be a problem, double check all your hose connections, I hope it’s just something simple

[@alfonsogtafoya2332]

Damn so disassembling everything for that

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

Yup it’s not as bad as it looks hah

[@oliver882k]

When you put everything back are there torque specs you should follow or just nice and snug???

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

It’s always a good idea to torque every bolt you can get specs for and even more important if you aren’t a technician and don’t have a good feel for tightening

[@MaxisBallinonaBudget]

I don't know if you'll see this but my 2008 rabbit 2.5 has been springing a leak from the radiator intermittently and always takes a long time to warm up do you think it could be the thermostat stuck open or more likely a clogged or bad radiator the car never overheats it just sprung that leak and now has me wondering. It will stop leaking too for days then one day will leak some more, on and off.

[@shugarysubstances]

I'm guessing both, if you want the cheap route first do a flush, pull hoses and check for nasties, then do radiator and thermostat.

[@oliver882k]

Thanks for walk through on this job. I just finished installing a new thermostat. There wasnt any visible difference between the old and new thermostat. I was thinking the old one was stuck open because while monitoring my engine coolant temp it wasnt making it to 190F..ish. it was more noticeable on the freeway. The temp would drop to low 170s even into the 160s. Now it seems to drop to high 170s but seems to maintain temp around 180s to 190s. Is it normal for the temp to drop to 180s while on the freeway???

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

That does seem a little unusual, I guess if you aren’t getting a cooling system malfunction fault and your heat is still working well I wouldn’t worry about it, typically from what I’ve seen they maintain engine temp a little better than that at a cruise tho

[@oliver882k]

@@EuropeanAutoRepair ok thanks ill keep monitoring the temp. Im using an obd2 reader with the torque app.

[@noahtattershall3599]

Great video man! I’m trying to track down a leak and I’ve had a shop diagnose it for me. They say it’s the water outlet flange, I believe it’s the thermostat housing. Do you know where the water outlet flange is located relative to thermostat housing? What’s your experience with the water outlet flange on these cars?

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

You will see coolant on top of the transmission likely with the outlet flange leaking as it bolts to the back of cylinder head, with the thermostat housing leaking it will be underneath the intake manifold pretty central

[@noahtattershall3599]

@@EuropeanAutoRepair I really appreciate the response man. From under the car it looks like it’s coming from where the housing is, but again that shop swore it was the outlet flange. I’ll have to check it out again once I can get it on the lift.

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

@noahtattershall3599 curious what you’ll find

[@noahtattershall3599]

@@EuropeanAutoRepair me too, this thing has been pissing coolant for several months and I’ve had enough lol

[@ozziesantillan4166]

Where can you find the "special tool" the long 6mm hex head? or can I use a standard 6mm with a long socket extension?

[@Maxersmoto]

Fcp euro or Amazon has it

[@ISTHIStheKRUSTYKRABx]

soooo i took my car in today and they are saying that it might be a thermostat cost to fix. not entirely sure yet, just an initial diagnosis. i have a coolant leak. which sucks. i got an oil change about 2 weeks ago as well. should this have been found before? 8 months ago they replaced the water pump, radiator, serpentine belt bc of prior leaks. raped my wallet for $1900… but yeah, how much should it be for a thermostat fix and should it have been found before? thanks in advance!

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

I’m not 100% sure on pricing but I would imagine it around 5 or 6 hundred bucks, not sure on labor rates at your local dealer or independent. I’ve seen them go from being fine to dumping coolant without much warning in the past so it is possible, cooling components usually hood up pretty decent on the 2.5l engines it’s unfortunate that you had all those failures

[@richrodriguez6543]

Any throttle adaptation needed when it goes back together?

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

Shouldn’t really be necessary, if you end up cleaning the throttle plate while you are in there it wouldn’t be a bad idea to perform adaptations

[@harleypointer5984]

I did all of this and when I put it back together my car won’t idol correctly it started then stopped for a second and then continued running rough till eventually the rpm’s just kept going up on there own and I had to shut it off

[@chasekolar8847]

Harley clean ur throttle do a seafoam treatment if necessary

[@gmobile612]

Does the manifold gasket also need to be replaced before reinstalling?

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

Yeah definitely a good idea to replace that

[@shugarysubstances]

@@EuropeanAutoRepairI just had to pull the intake maybe 3 months ago for something else and I really don't want to shell out for those gaskets again. I personally think they're fine to reuse but want another opinion before I dig into this 😅

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

It’s not the recommend procedure but you’ll be fine for sure lol

[@meloche1syndrome]

Ggeeeeeez i did this on my explorer and it took me literally 20 minutes. I gotta take the whole engine apart? Ugh

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

I’m sorry, not a great design

[@smhaceofspades2813]

Holy moly all this to just replace our thermostat, I take it there is no hitting it from the bottom to replace it

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

It’s honestly not as bad as it seems, the whole thing probably takes 1.5 hours I’d say

[@gabeh.5061]

It’s either take the intake off or go from underneath, loosen the motor mount, jack the engine up, take the belts off to get the alternator off and you can squeeze in from where the alternator sits. Definitely easier this way

[@smhaceofspades2813]

@@gabeh.5061 lol yeah that definitely seems like a lot more work from the bottom access LMAO🤣🤣🤣🤣.

[@oliver882k]

​@@gabeh.5061 do you have to lift the motor?? Is it possible just to remove the alternator with the car jacked up? My thermostat seems to be stuck open.

[@delkahchop3612]

Thanks. Wanted to see what the mechanic is abou t to charge me an arm c leg to replace. Could i do it yes. Do i want to no. Oh well. $$$!

[@user-xd1gt9if2v]

They had to make it like that....that way they can charge over 1000 for a 25 dollar part.

[@timclark3449]

In my 99 Camry it's literally two bolts a 15-minute job looks like I'll be spending a couple hours doing this just to save a few pennies

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

Yeah a thermostat shouldn’t be this much work that’s for sure

[@SuperGreenManalishi]

That's a lot of work to change a thermostat.😬

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

Not my favorite thermostat job

[@ThisIsOSOS]

Tesla the way to go

[@MaxisBallinonaBudget]

What a ridiculous vehicle this has been with the 2.5L all this just for a thermostat 5 hours for a radiator unbolting motor mounts and moving the engine for a water pump like what the hell vw.

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

I’m with you man

[@user-bm4qf2ox1f]

Omg what is wrong with German engineers?

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

They like seeing us struggle lol

[@djkassiuskaybeatz4358]

My 2003 BMW 325i wagon is much easier to work on. But my daughter's Jetta is another story

[@baileymatthews4158]

you have a sexy voice

[@EuropeanAutoRepair]

Hah thank you! I appreciate the confidence boost

[@bullishbeartrader6121]

Wishing you didn't buy a VW now? 😅

[@johnnyq1233]

What a pile of crap!!! I'm surprised that you don't have to remove the heads and timing chain/belt!!!!! You're just changing the thermostat, right? Definitely want to look at several key replacement videos on any vehicle you plan on buying. My Subi is a breeze on just about anything I need to touch, starter, alternator, plugs and wires, thermostat, timing belt. The only bad thing is the valve cover gaskets or a head gasket job... But you only do that once in a lifetime of ownership and it will cost you, so don't abuse it and keep the oil fresh!