A few misc. questions; help appreciated

[RyanDSM]

There are a few things that are bugging me w/ my TSi right now, any help would be appreciated -

1. I just re-installed my stock radiator as my aftermarket one from radiator-express.com developed a crack in 4 DAYS (last time I spend money there ). Now when I idle the temp slowly rises to near red. I believe the fans aren't coming on, I haven't had time to actually check (only had it on for a day, now it's 1 am and I don't think my neighbors would appreciate the noise). How would I go about hard-wiring the fans so one (or preferably both) are on all the time when the car is running? Would this be bad for the alternator/battery? I get really nervous when thing's start happening that could potentially damage my motor; I'd rather have the fans always on than not coming on at all when I need them.

2. My idle is really erratic - sometimes it will start at 1600 then drop to 600, or it will start at 1000 then go to 900... I have s-afc and no matter what i do i can't get it to stay consistent. Any ideas?

3. Is that interior panel that the hood release latch is attached to something you can swap out? Mine is peeling and looks really nasty, and bugs the hell out of me. Offhand, do any of you know if I can just swap that out or do I haveto figure some way to re-attach the "skin".


That's about it for now, thanks in advance.

 

[Lordpaxin]

For over heating.

Even if the fans dont kick on, it should climb all the way, You might want to check into your waterpump or the thermostat. If the pump aint doing much, it will over heat, you should be able to at idle just look in the radiator cap area and see if the water is turbulant. another could be a faulty thermostat.