Tubby thermostat

[mjb]

I'm just not getting up to temperature on the move in cold weather, and barely getting warm standing still so I'm presuming it's the thermostat stuck open.

So how the heck do you get to the thermostat on the 2.0 turbo? It seems like I've got to take out the air filter box, its tubing and the pipe going to the intercooler to get at the bolt to the immediate top-left and the shiny one barely visible to the bottom right of the bleed nipple in this picture, before wrestling to get the bolts undone:

http://www.botchitt.com/screens/406/thermostat.jpg

[V6Exec]

Can I ditto that for the V6. Did an early morning run the other day and the temp was off the gauge

I was up on the M-way temp was cold, stopped off at the services and had the engine running whilst I sorted out the charger for my sat nav. The gauge picked up nicely to a respectable temp. Soon I was running again the temp dropped off.

[steve_earwig]

I can relate to that, the first winter my 2,1 seemed fine, it even seemed to get warm pretty quickly, the second I wasn't driving it (I had that stupid 4x4 thing), the third it just wasn't getting there so I bunged it into a garage (I'll be damned if I'm going to crawl about under a wet car when labour's £20 an hour). It didn't even have a thermostat

[niz406]

I'm just not getting up to temperature on the move in cold weather, and barely getting warm standing still so I'm presuming it's the thermostat stuck open.

So how the heck do you get to the thermostat on the 2.0 turbo? It seems like I've got to take out the air filter box, its tubing and the pipe going to the intercooler to get at the bolt to the immediate top-left and the shiny one barely visible to the bottom right of the bleed nipple in this picture, before wrestling to get the bolts undone:

http://www.botchitt.com/screens/406/thermostat.jpg

Yes you have to remove the alloy charge pipe, the air filter box, and the smaller water pipe must be disconnected where it goes to the turbo feed ( small spring clip ), then you have to be careful with the larger cap.. I would drain the entire system first and renew your coolant with some red stuff after the new thermostat is fitted.

The coolant renew procedure is easy.... you just need a home, made header tank lol

[mjb]

Yes you have to remove the alloy charge pipe, the air filter box, and the smaller water pipe must be disconnected where it goes to the turbo feed ( small spring clip ), then you have to be careful with the larger cap.. I would drain the entire system first and renew your coolant with some red stuff after the new thermostat is fitted.

I just took off the air filter box and connecting rubber air pipe. I tried to get the small water pipe off but it's just too old to move without splitting. Someone could have warned me about getting the old thermostat out though... Took over an hour of chiseling out the old gasket. I was hoping to get the job done in-between showers but ended up a bit wet

The coolant renew procedure is easy.... you just need a home, made header tank lol

GAH! I keep saying this: all you need to do is park the car with the driver side slightly higher than the passenger side! Just parking on a cambered road like mine is sufficient or putting the drivers side on the kerb would do the job too...

[niz406]

I tried to get the small water pipe off but it's just too old to move without splitting. Someone could have warned me about getting the old thermostat out though... Took over an hour of chiseling out the old gasket.

Tip Number 1:

Use some normal pliers to grip the small rubber coolant hose, then turn a litle back and forth to loosen... this will break the seal and make your job of removing far easier..

Tip Number 2:

Use the same pliers to pinch the top of the thermostat and twist and pull... it really is that easy... ALWAYS !

[mjb]

Use the same pliers to pinch the top of the thermostat and twist and pull... it really is that easy... ALWAYS !

I did try that - was an obvious first step - and pulled the top off. The gasket really had cemented it in well!