marty16610 Posted December 3, 2005 Report Posted December 3, 2005 Question for you all. If you check "cold hose & update" you will see how much aggro I've had lately. I'm going on a long run in 2 weeks time and i want to know-- "Will i do any harm by taking the thermostat out and running without one in for a while?". Quote
Guest marcusheawood Posted December 4, 2005 Report Posted December 4, 2005 No harm can result from this, but warmup will of course take much longer. I know you've been struggling with this issue, but has the car ever actually overheated? Quote
marty16610 Posted December 4, 2005 Author Report Posted December 4, 2005 Hi It hasnt actually overheated but it does run very hot,temp gauge on the red side of "M" with the heater switched off. With them on it sits a bit lower. My worry is that running at that temp for a long time will do the head gasket or something else or it will keep getting hotter and hotter. Quote
marty16610 Posted December 4, 2005 Author Report Posted December 4, 2005 Right. Ive taken the stat out and been for a short run. It takes ages for the gauge to move, but i was expecting that. The bottom hose and rad are both warm so water is circulating OK. I'm going to test the stat when missus has finished with the cooker and will let you know if its naffed or not. Cheers. :unsure: Quote
soptom Posted December 4, 2005 Report Posted December 4, 2005 If you now have water circulating when you didn't before, I would buy another thermostat from Ford/VW and fit that. Even if you test your one and it seems good, from your experience I wouldn't risk re-fitting it.Hope you get it sorted, problems like this that don't cause the car to breakdown but cause you to constantly worry are immensly frustrating. Quote
dave_m Posted December 4, 2005 Report Posted December 4, 2005 My car is exactly the same as this, The Thermostat will not start open until it reaches about 88 degrees it then is not fully open until about 104 degrees. in this cold weather the engine does not seem to warm up enough (even with the booster running as this only helps to 75 degrees) to let the thermostat open enough to heat the radiator up. I have monitored my coolant temp with VAG COM and when the temp hits about 92 you can just feel the Rad hose that comes from the thermostat housing to the Rad starting to get warm. I think if you had a problem you would definately experience overheating as there must be some cooling otherwise it would be getting hotter and hotter. Your cooling system must be working Ok as with no thermostat fitted the rad is getting warm, which is what was happening to mine when the dealer forgot to refit the thermostat after my head was changed. Maybe You could try covering up the front grill with foil or something similar and taking the car for a drive as if theres no airflow Through the Rad then you will see if the rad is getting hot or not. It is a concern that the rad doesn't seem to get hot, i myself was concerned as all the cars i have had in the past (petrols) seem to be hot within a few minutes! Quote
marty16610 Posted December 4, 2005 Author Report Posted December 4, 2005 soptom--- I have only taken the stat out as a short term measure, when i refit another one it will be a genuine dealer one ONLY no more messing around with 3rd party ones. Not worth the aggro for saving a few Quote
johnb80 Posted December 4, 2005 Report Posted December 4, 2005 My car is exactly the same as this, The Thermostat will not start open until it reaches about 88 degrees it then is not fully open until about 104 degrees. in this cold weather the engine does not seem to warm up enough (even with the booster running as this only helps to 75 degrees) to let the thermostat open enough to heat the radiator up. I have monitored my coolant temp with VAG COM and when the temp hits about 92 you can just feel the Rad hose that comes from the thermostat housing to the Rad starting to get warm. I think if you had a problem you would definately experience overheating as there must be some cooling otherwise it would be getting hotter and hotter. Your cooling system must be working Ok as with no thermostat fitted the rad is getting warm, which is what was happening to mine when the dealer forgot to refit the thermostat after my head was changed. Maybe You could try covering up the front grill with foil or something similar and taking the car for a drive as if theres no airflow Through the Rad then you will see if the rad is getting hot or not. It is a concern that the rad doesn't seem to get hot, i myself was concerned as all the cars i have had in the past (petrols) seem to be hot within a few minutes! Just out of interest, how did you get 104 deg on the stat when testing? Regards - JB Quote
dave_m Posted December 4, 2005 Report Posted December 4, 2005 JB, I haven't actually tested my stat i am just basing that on the Specs of the cooling system on elsawin. i would imagine the actual values vary quite a bit depending on which make/quality of stat used. In practice i shouldn't imagine the coolant temp would ever reach 104' The EPC that specifys the VW thermostat as 87-102 degrees, i think the one i bought from GSF is 88-104 degrees :D Quote
seatkid Posted December 4, 2005 Report Posted December 4, 2005 At least you know the pump/radiator is AOK! Are you sure you fitted the stat and rubber seal correctly? Could anyone whos changed one on the same model please confirm that the stat goes in long end first and then the seal and cover......? If you get the same problem with a genuine stat (they're usually around Quote
marty16610 Posted December 4, 2005 Author Report Posted December 4, 2005 seatkid---The stat will only fit one way round (long end first) if you put it in the other way the cover wont fit. Ford stat- Quote
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