plumbing in radiator

iv recently changed my old 1.1 engine for a newer 1.3 polo gt  engine and i am still using the old 1.1 radiator. i have plumbed it all in but i am not sure if it is all flowing correctly because i had to take a guess at what went where. the top and bottom radiator hoses both stay cold which is why im guessing something is wrong.
      any body know if how i can make sure its working? or figure out how to make sure thr in the right places?  :dontknow:

I should be obvious which is the top and bottom hoses.  If they are not getting hot check your thermostat is not stuck closed.

Right - the bottom hose is the on that comes out of the black "hand" thingy with the two temp sensors on it (one blue, one black).  The top host (which is the return hose) goes (ultimately) to the metal pipe that runs along the back of the engine block as this is the feed for the water pump.

If they are the wrong way around the heat will stay at the top of the raditor but one hose should still get hot.  You want to check that your water level isn't over the overflow cutout which you can see on the radiator side looking through the filler cap - it is a rectangular hole.  If the water is over this point then the radiator becomes air locked and eventually cooks (done this myself on the A19!!).

You also want to make sure your heater controls are set to fully HOT when filling the system.

As crazy said, the radiator will not heat up until the engine is upto operating temperature as the thermostat will not open until this point.  However, the "heater" inside the car should be at least warm after a few minutes of running.

If none of this happens then it points to either a busted thermostat (sticking shut and not letting any water through) or an inefficient water pump.

When you start the engine from cold you will probably here an odd noise (a bit like a power steering pump under load).  This is the waterpump running as it has ceramic bearings which have a very particular noise (which owners of Mk3 Polos should be used to).  It might be hard to listen for if you havn't heard it before though.

thanks for the help, yeh it makes that noise, i did wonder what that was! il go have a look and c whats happenin then.