I brought the van it in to get repaired last week. I got it back from the shop recentley. I had to do some work to it- some of which included a new thermostat, etc and it's running like a charm. (you can't buy a new thermostat, so had to order a good used for for $150- because this one...was cracked in two and the mechanic said he never seen anything like it.

For reference, there is a guy making new thermostats now with the original tooling used on the OEM thermostats. They are $120. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1036746