Thermostats - troubleshooting

[Jetjockey]

Paul-R

£44?????? The complete kit is £9.99

Where do you get the £44 from?

White Exec

The mod is extremely popular and works extremely well. Clamping of the stat in the pipe is no problem, in fact it’s very much an interference fit. Why should the inline stat fail, it has no more chance of failing than the original. It seems nothing more than an original idea to solve a more difficult problem, as opposed to a bodge. DMGRS have sold over 500 of these units with no problems. It’s not the ideal solution I dare say, but perfectly safe.

Once again, it’s only £9.99. Seems cheap to me. Am I missing something?

[Paul-R]

My bad. If you scroll about half way down the page it says List price: ~£45 (OEM thermostat) and I picked up on that. Shouldn't skim read I suppose.

[white exec]

That was the price I clocked too.
Don't think I mentioned the additional 'stat failing - just how it might be able to react in a non-standard position.

[Peter.N.]

Oh its a bodge alright Chris and I take you point about flow restriction but I could have had my car back on the road in an hour or so - if it fitted my hose. You can get to the top of the thermostat in the C5 housing so you could - by the use of another bodge make sure it stayed open.

I know I usually only pay three or four hundred pounds for my cars so I did many thousands of miles on bodges, this one cost me 1500 so I do have a little more respect for it.

Peter

[Jetjockey]

£1500!!!! .

Does that come with a years free fuel?

[Jetjockey]

This looks like it.



That bodge with an in-line stat is now looking decidedly more attractive, I’m tempted

[white exec]

That installation definitely built for ease of factory fitting, not ease of subsequent repair.
A good earner for repair workshops, though.

[Peter.N.]

Taking the engine out is the way to do it! I thought that was me in the video for a minute, he sounds very much like me on video only he has more of a London accent.

That housing looks pretty well the same as the Citroen one.

Peter

[Jetjockey]

Well, last couple of days car covered in thick frost. This morning I left the car running outside the house for maybe 15 mins to heat the interior, then drove it 4 miles for my morning coffee. On arrival at coffee shop the temp gauge in the car not even registering one bar! Can’t be right surely!

[Peter.N.]

That's the sort of thing mine was doing, sounds as though the thermostat is stuck partly open. Was the oil temperature reading anything?

Peter

[Jetjockey]

Update. Purchased a new stat from a local factors for £64 (Trade), made sure it was a Mahle/ Behr.

Job took 3 hrs with tea and interruptions. Went well but special clip removing tool highly recommended for the rear pipe. Car reassembled and now runs consistently at 6 bars, occasionally 7. No question that the old stat was faulty, even the heating is working better. Hopefully see an improvement in mpg! Pictures to follow.

[Rhothgar]

A little update on my situation.

Car runs like a dream now hovers around 79 degC on the guage but when the fans kick in it shows 93degC so it appears to be showing 4degC less than it is.

The real test will be to see if the MPG goes up.

I'm no warmer so a heater matrix is now on the list of things to do... Great!

[Jetjockey]

A bit more info.

Oil temperature now also a bit hotter, at least one, maybe two extra bars. Ultimately though, the biggest effect is that the temps of both oil and water have now stabilised with none of the constant heating up and cooling down experienced before. Also the radiator cooling fan actually fired up for the first time ever! The acid test will be in the morning from freezing cold.

Dunno why these pics are rotated through 90°.

The Effect

The Offending Article

The Hose Clip Remover

Out With The Old

In With The New

[Jetjockey]

Thank you!

Bit more info..... Took out the battery, air box, and pipework to access the bracket over the thermostat housing.
Also disconnected the gear selector and removed it’s fixing bracket. Also a couple of plugs and sockets to undo to allow the electrical cables to be moved aside. If I had to pick one specialist tool to aid with the removal it would definitely be the hose clip remover!

[Peter.N.]

Well done, its a bit more complicated on the C5 but the principle is the same.

Peter