There's a stud sticking out the side of my engine case. I reckon Wolfsburg would have put it there for a reason, which means something is missing from my engine. It's on the right side of the case, way down low, to the right of the drain plug and below the pushrod tubes (and sitting directly above the lowest bit of tinware). What is it for?

Pictures would help

Thermostat, nearly all engines are missing them these days

it holds the thermostat bracket on...

most thermostats were removed at first service by VW mechanics with instructions from VW Australasia...


LEE

Thanks guys, I'd heard of a mythical thermostat but never actually seen one before.thanks for the great pics joel

I actually took a bunch of pics when I fitted it, not many people ever get to see a working VW thermostat system.

Do you have pics to show how it connects to the flappy bit? And do you have time to make a sticky topic showing all the parts of the thermostat system? I reckon that would be a really useful resource.

Yep, I'll dig it all out and get some better pics.
Have a much better digital camera than when I took those original pics about 5 years ago.