Is my water pump going?

[boku]

I have an 02 1.8T with 91k - stock, getting onto the highway this morning ( pedal to the floor for a small amount of time) about 1 mile onto the highway I get a low coolant warning and notice my temp gauge pinned to "H", immediately pull over and check under the hood, coolant level is fine and did not see leaks of any sort. So I waited for the engine to cool down before I tried to limp of the busy highway.
Within 15 minutes the engine cooled enough so tried to drive to the exit ramp expecting the same thing to happen, and to my surprise it was fine, I drove it to my house (about 2 miles highway & 6 miles of stop and go ) and no issue with the temp, needle was perfect and no low coolant light coolant. Could this be my water pump going? The T-belt and water pump where replaced at 70k and the G62 temp sensor replaced about a month ago.

I was thinking it could be the t-stat but that would not account for the low coolant warning I don’t think.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[kurtdaniel]

I have an 02 1.8T with 91k - stock, getting onto the highway this morning ( pedal to the floor for a small amount of time) about 1 mile onto the highway I get a low coolant warning and notice my temp gauge pinned to "H", immediately pull over and check under the hood, coolant level is fine and did not see leaks of any sort. So I waited for the engine to cool down before I tried to limp of the busy highway.
Within 15 minutes the engine cooled enough so tried to drive to the exit ramp expecting the same thing to happen, and to my surprise it was fine, I drove it to my house (about 2 miles highway & 6 miles of stop and go ) and no issue with the temp, needle was perfect and no low coolant light coolant. Could this be my water pump going? The Autopartswarehouse.com T-belt and water pump where replaced at 70k and the G62 temp sensor replaced about a month ago.

I was thinking it could be the t-stat but that would not account for the low coolant warning I don’t think.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I read an article saying that, you must turn ignition off before gauge pointer reaches "H" mark. Failure to turn ignition off before pointer reaches "H" mark may damage gauge.

[PSYC0TIC ONE]

also, i'd check into the thermostat

[CO AVANT]

So are you getting a low coolant warning but with coolant still above the min line in the reservior when you check it? T-stat is a definite possibility.

[lookaught]

I dont understand why you got the low coolant warning at all... that sensor is in the bottom of the resevoir and is unrelated to temperature. I would run the car in your driveway and look at the res to see what happens. Once hot, turn off the car and open the res to measure the temp with an actual thermometer. I dont know what "normal" temperature is, maybe someone else can chime in?

[CO AVANT]

Just running the car in the driveway won't lower coolant levels like that, you need to be under load and high head to see that most of the time. I have been at low coolant levels and when I drive the piss out of it and take a look the coolant in the tank can be all gone then when the car starts to cool again the coolant rises back into the reservior. Look at your oil filter and see if there is any pink dry coolant on it. Wondering if it is leaking from the overflow tube. You can vag-com while driving and check on your coolant temps. Blocks 130-137 are your engine cooling blocks.

[diagnosticator]

Are you sure it was a Low Coolant Level warning? A High Coolant Temperature Warning would be consistent with the temp gage needle near the "H"ot end of the scale, as you observed.