98 Jetta VR6, water pump?

I just bought my second VW (first was a Golf of the same year), and
upon completing the nearly two hour drive home, I shut the car off, and
still heard a noise. So I poped the hood, and listened intently. It
sound like a mechanical humming accompanied by a hissing and gurgling.
I hypothesised that it was the water pump running, so to confirm my
theory that is was indeed mechanical, I disconected the negative
battery terminal. The sound stoped. When I reconected the battery, the
sound did not resume. Then I turned the car on and off, and the sound
came back, exactly like before. So this time I waited, and after about
10-15 minutes, it turned itself off.
My theory is that the water pump continues to run (off battery or
alternater) until either, 1)The engine is sufficiently cooled, or 2) in
the case of it running off of the alternater, the alternater runs out
of juice. Thoughts? Did I just spend 3,500 on a car tat is about to
incur major repair bills?

On 3 Sep 2006 05:28:12 -0700, wrote:

>I just bought my second VW (first was a Golf of the same year), and
>upon completing the nearly two hour drive home, I shut the car off, and
>still heard a noise. So I poped the hood, and listened intently. It
>sound like a mechanical humming accompanied by a hissing and gurgling.
>I hypothesised that it was the water pump running, so to confirm my
>theory that is was indeed mechanical, I disconected the negative
>battery terminal. The sound stoped. When I reconected the battery, the
>sound did not resume. Then I turned the car on and off, and the sound
>came back, exactly like before. So this time I waited, and after about
>10-15 minutes, it turned itself off.
>My theory is that the water pump continues to run (off battery or
>alternater) until either, 1)The engine is sufficiently cooled, or 2) in
>the case of it running off of the alternater, the alternater runs out
>of juice. Thoughts? Did I just spend 3,500 on a car tat is about to
>incur major repair bills?

Gee, quit worrying so much. <g>

No, you just bought a VR6 with a working after run coolant
pump

gary


>I just bought my second VW (first was a Golf of the same year), and
>upon completing the nearly two hour drive home, I shut the car off, and
>still heard a noise. So I poped the hood, and listened intently. It
>sound like a mechanical humming accompanied by a hissing and gurgling.
>I hypothesised that it was the water pump running, so to confirm my
>theory that is was indeed mechanical, I disconected the negative
>battery terminal. The sound stoped. When I reconected the battery, the
>sound did not resume. Then I turned the car on and off, and the sound
>came back, exactly like before. So this time I waited, and after about
>10-15 minutes, it turned itself off.
>My theory is that the water pump continues to run (off battery or
>alternater) until either, 1)The engine is sufficiently cooled, or 2) in
>the case of it running off of the alternater, the alternater runs out
>of juice. Thoughts? Did I just spend 3,500 on a car tat is about to
>incur major repair bills?