Old VW were air cooled. VW started making water cooled cars in 1973 in the US, but had been making them in Brazil many years before that. But they never stopped all the air cooled cars either. Air cooled cars are much lighter, durable, easy to maintain, and inexpensive, but tend to produce more NOx than we allow in the US. The first water cooled VW in the US was the 1973 Dasher, not the 74 Rabbit. The Dasher is not really the same as a Passat since there is a gap. You are correct the Bug ended manufacture in Mexico in 2003, but China licensed the Thing not the Bug and still makes it. Then in 1974 VW came out with their replacement for the Beetle- Rabbit or Golf. Along with that was the Scirocco and the Dasher (Passat) these are/were water cooled. However, from 1949- 1984- the Bus (Type II) or Vanagon (last name before Eurovan) it was air cooled then it became watercooled (wasserboxer). In addition, there was the Type III (Fastback, Station Wagon or Variant, and the notchback) all of which were air cooled.
Then there was the Karmann Ghia (air cooled) and the 411 and 412 both air cooled. The beetle has ceased production and was never produced in China. However it was produced in Mexico, and in some South American countries the Type II soldiers on. HERE IS YOUR ANSWER pre 1998 VW Beetles, karmann ghias, VW Thing, Squareback, Fastback and VW Buses up to 1986 are all completely air cooled; no water. If you mean newer VW's.. My engine light came on in my 2001 passat. Can I fix it myself? The manual says Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) comes on when there is an emission related malfunction. If it comes on and stayes on there is a malfunction in the engine system. Get thee to a VW dealer and get it fixed right away. Is this easy to fix myself? Go to autozone. They'll scan it for free and pull up what code it is so you can figure out what the actual problem is. AND what needs to be done to fix it. I would start by going to Advanced or Autozone and get a free scan. Next part may not be so easy.
Some codes require several steps to fix them. Like the code for "coolant temp sensor" Most times to fix that you have to replace the temp. AND change the thermostat and flush the cooling system. Word of caution. Many times with these free scans they will tell you it is an oxygen sensor and they will sell you one without saying which one(there are anywhere from 3 to 5 of them. But fear not--there are a lot of simple things it could be too. Like if it comes up as an "evap leak" the easy thing to do is replace the gas cap and try it. If you choose to take it somewhere, rather than the dealer I would find a VW specialist to scan it. Most of the check engine lights happened during a period when the injectors were clogging because the fuel was coming from low cost stations.
The dealer got me at first for emissions control stuff but it became obvious over a period of 20,000 miles that it was fuel related. Cans of fuel additive to clean the injectors, then using only Chevron premium since has made that go away. Another was the day after a service when the light came on and they read the computer output to me - something about "Mass air flow indicator". I think they broke something but it was about the same age others have had that problem. That was a couple hundred. The worst was after my sunroof drain plugged during a rainy week, and I didn't notice the water on the passenger side of the floor. Under that floor is the electronics for the automatic transmission. That was fifteen hundred dollars. A towel on the floor would have saved some big bucks there. The warning light started coming on about 4 days before the transmission started acting up. My blunder not taking the car to the dealer right away when the light came on. My experiences say if the light comes on, take it in.
If it comes on again after they "fix" it, they didn't. 50 to read the computer output. There are places out there that will read it for free if you will get it fixed there, and with the age of our cars, that is not a bad deal. I do like VW dealers for service though because they usually have seen someone else's car with the same problem before and will get to the solution faster. The code will tell you what is going on. The scanner will let you reset the code too (turn the light off). It could be something as minor as a loose gas cap, or as major as impending failure of the engine or transmission. The car's computer runs diagnostics continuously and when something goes wrong it throws a code (specific problems have specific numeric codes). When something important goes wrong and stays wrong, the computer lights a light on the dash to let the driver know that the car needs to be serviced.
