cold cranking

Hi just got a problem with a get the car started when it is cold and i only put a battery on it the last month?

plus is it normal if the car goes past the middle on temp gauge? it seems to head quite close to the first white bar of the
red section

any help much appriciated

cheers
James

what exactly happens when you crank it cold? no fire? slow crankign?

and when driving along it should sit close to the middle of the gauge, but in traffic it'll go up to about 3/4 before fan cuts in and pulls temp back down to around half

Doesnt want to fire and i have to feather throttle to get it too fire and it will cut out after but on the second go it will fire but run lumpy as if the timing is well out. 

The temp guage goes up to 3/4 n stays there whilst driving and in traffic it creeps higher but the fan works as i have heard it running whilst parked up

mine has been running rather warm according to the needle but its a mk3 block and stat , series 2 sensor and a series 1 guage , its not been an issue til recently when ive had reason to suspect the stat , will see if that cures mine , is yours a gti or carb ?

the sender could just be over-reading, if the fan is kicking in

Not too sure on engine as it not original and was already done a few years before i got it but i believe it is a mk2 1.8 16v engine but modified. I need to sort it as i look like an idiot having to rev it up quite high to keep the engine running

http://www.vwgolfmk2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=25972&