Problem..went to reinstall thermastat..was no thermastat in car. the housing was cracked, broken and is leaking antifreeze..why did the air work if no thermastat was in it???

Its real common for the water pumps to go on those especially with a 2.7 liter

For this types of problem,check the help link provided below.Click the link below to go through its troubleshooting procedure:-----Antifreeze leaking from front of engine near Air intake? http://technoanswers.blogspot.in/2012/02/antifreeze-leaking-from-front-of-engine.html
----------Antifreeze leaking from freeze plug on throttle body? http://technoanswers.blogspot.in/2012/02/antifreeze-leaking-from-freeze-plug-on.html
---------How to locate the vacuum leak? http://howtobyme.blogspot.in/2012/01/how-to-locate-vacuum-leak.html
-----------How to Perform Car AC Leak detection Test? http://repairhelpcenter.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-perform-car-ac-leak-detection.html
------------Common Causes of Car Oil Leaks? http://schematicsdiagram.blogspot.com/2011/12/common-causes-of-car-oil-leaks.html----------- Troubleshoot Car Oil leak? http://schematicsdiagram.blogspot.com/2011/12/troubleshoot-car-oil-leak.html
-----------The plastic housing which goes to the upper radiator hose is cracked and leaking?

http://schematicsdiagram.blogspot.com/2011/12/plastic-housing-which-goes-to-upper.html

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Radiator leaking? http://repairhelpcenter.blogspot.com/2011/12/radiator-leaking.html
-----------This will help.Thanks.

Engines can rock on the motor mounts. You probably have a vacuum line that is pinched, cracked, broken,kinked, or unhooked. check the engine compartment lines first. If you have thin plastic vacuum lines, they can kink more easily than rubber lines. If you have been working under the dash (replacing a radio, etc) check your work area in case you have a broken fitting on a vacuum housing or an unhooked line.

YES! DRAIN THE RADIATOR! THE THERMASTAT IS AT THE ENGINE SIDE OF THE TOP RADIATOR HOSE! REMOVE THE HOSE! AND THE THERMASTAT HOUSING HAS TWO BOLTS HOLDING IT ON! REMOVE THE TWO BOLTS, AND THE HOUSING! CLEAN THE AREA AROUND THE BASE OF THE HOUSING! SCRAP OFF THE OLD GASKET FROM THE HOUSING, AND ON THE ENGINE! REPLACE THE GASKET WITH A NEW ONE! PLACE THE NEW THERMASTAT IN THE SAME DIRECTION AS THE OLD ONE COMES OUT! REPLACE THE HOUSING, TIGHTEN THE BOLTS, AND PUT THE RADIATOR HOSE BACK ON, RETIGHTEN IT, AND FILL WITH ANTIFREEZE, AND CHECK FOR LEAKS!

There is a gasket between the housing and engine and that could be the source of your leak. It could also be that the clamp has worked loose on the rad hose. Hope this helps.

First you should drain the antifreez by opening the drain plug located by the lower radiator hose. Then take the upper radiator hose off. Then take the 2 bolts out that hold the housing on. Remove the housng and there is your thermastat. Accordind to VW they want you to put antifreeze on the o-ring I use RTV a little extra help sealing just don't put a lot on. The book says to put thermastat in housing and turn 1/4 turn to right. I'm not sure why but thats what it says. TIP If you close the drain plug now and put as much antifreeze in as you can makes it easyer to get air pockets out later. Mount your therrmostast housing back to block and tighten bolts. Again put as much antifreeze in that you can them put upper radiator hose back on. Again put as much antifreeze in that you can. Now come the hard part sometimes getting all the air out of the cooling system. Put the radiator cap on but loose run the engine till the cooling fan kicks on but keep checking the coolant level. WARNING ANTIFREEZE WILL GET ABOVE 200 DEGREES
both upper and lower radiator hoses should be hot and radiator full. If both hoses aren't hot you have an air pocket that you have to get out. To do this run the engine a couple minutes after the fan kicks on then turn engine off for 5 or 10 minutes and start over keep doing this till both hoses get hot and the air the fan is blowing is hot. Once this is doe yout ready to go. I hose off any antifreeze that got one car so if you see antifreeze under car you know something is leaking and not what was spilled.

If there is a internal antifreeze leak, there will be antifreeze mixed in your oil. Check your oil. If there is antifreeze in there, you probably have a bad head or base gasket. Worst case scenario is your block is cracked somewhere. Check your heater core and the lines as well. If the heater core is bad it will be leaking.
Check the thermostat housing for a leak. Sometimes
the antifreeze will leak from there, and burn on top of the exhaust instead of dripping onto the ground. Good luck

go to a auto parts store and get a screw extractor, usually they come a set.
drill a small hole in the center of the broken bolt shalf. (big enough to insert the screw extractor.
very carefully back the screw out.

The gasket may have slipped out of place while placing the bolts in the holes. Remove it again. Make sure the thermostat is orientated correctly. Apply a gasket tack onto the housing apply the gasket and let dry until it will stay in place. Carefully place the housing in place. Start all three bolts before tightening them. Also just in case, check the thermostat housing for cracks, and make sure the hose end is not damaged from the hose clamp, or when you removed the hose. Sometimes people try to pry the hose loose with a flat tip screwdriver and unknowingly damage the hose. If you follow the steps above you should correct the problem. Good luck.

I just had that same problem with the antifreeze leaking and I thought it was my water pump but I pulled the antifreeze tank off and it was cracked all along the bottom and that was causing the antifreeze to leak out real bad so I went to a nearby junkyard and found a new tank and replaced the cracked one and now it works just fine with no leaks. I hope this works for you liked it worked for me.