Could roast a lamb under my bonnet :(

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Originally Posted by Buckaluckaducka

I'd absolutely love to fork out for a new this and a new that, but unfortunately i can't even afford that at the moment.
As for running it hot, i'm not running it for anything other than testing which is basically not at all so i'm not worried about that really.
I'll be putting a new thermostat in next week sometime and if that don't fix it i'll do the bypass.
After that i guess i'll have to pull a few bucks from my arse somehow aye.
thanks for the advice anyhow. I'll let you know how it all goes.

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hey mate

overheating issues really suck, me and a mate have just spent the last couple of days trying to sort one out on his tdi eventually diagnosed it as the head gasket but we took everything else out of the equasion first, one of which was rodding the radiator ourselves, which isnt a very hard job all you need is an oxy or a mate with one.
we went down to the local radiator shop and picked up a rod which he just gave us or a suitable allternative would be an old dipstick.
here is a link to some pics and a bit more info http://www.aulro.com/afvb/technical-...r-cycle-2.html

Oh yeah and the bonus was that the whole excersise only cost 20 bucks:)
and maybe just a thought on my 3.9 i had a mystery water leak and it turned out to be my valley cover gasket leaking from behind piston 7 and 8

hope this is of some help

yeah mate, that thread will definately help out if i need to do that.
I'm hoping the new thermostat will solve it and i believe it will given the symptoms.
That arrives tomorrow so fingers crossed.

well guys..
I got the thermostat yesterday. whacked it straight in without testing it....She didn't work. took it out, dropped it in a pot of boiling water. she opens fine. put it in the car, works perfectly.
i ran it for a good 20 mins to make sure. everything fine so i turned it off.
Must've been a god hour or more before i turned her on again.
Thermostat wouldn't open.
rang the guy i got it from and he was very insistent that his part was not faulty.
So i took it out and ran her without the stat in.
been perfect since. Just takes a nice long time to warm up is all.

So i'm pleased to know that i'm not looking at havin her bonnet up for another month lol.

Cheers for all the help & suggestions ppl.
Top stuff. :D

If it warms up without a thermostat to the normal place ie half way, you have a blocked radiator, or a blown head gasket.
Did you fit it the correct way around? ie spring towards the engine.
Regards Philip A

Fitted a new thermostat to my car 2 weeks ago. Same problem, but it opened just before the end zone of the gauge. Then it settled down to working properly. I meant to throw it out but after 2 weeks it no longer sticks like that and the temp is more stable.

One reason a thermostat can seem to be sticking is if your heater circuit or bleed to the radiator is blocked. Then it takes a while for the hot water to reach the bulb of the thermostat and then it opens in a rush. Sometimes a 5mm hole drilled in the thermostat plate can alleviate a poor bypass condition enough to work.

i fitted it correctly.
when working properly, the guage doesn't even get to half way. it was getting to about 5mm off the white line at the end and i didn't want to let it go any further coz last time i did i blew holes everywhere lol.
either way, i sent it back because it's not a problem that should occur with a brand new thermostat. they are supposed to work first time every time.
as for warming up without the thermostat, Phillip, what you said doesn't add up.
the engine warms up to temperature after a very long time because of having no thermostat to block the flow of water, but if the engine held its normal temperature without the thermostat, why would that indicate a blockage?
I would suspect such a thing if the engine continued to rise in heat without the thermostat.....
either way, for now my problems are solved.
Thanks again people.

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either way, i sent it back because it's not a problem that should occur with a brand new thermostat. they are supposed to work first time every time.
as for warming up without the thermostat, Phillip, what you said doesn't add up.

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Look at the size of the hole in the thermostat. You will note it is much smaller than the housing. It is deliberately sized to give a restriction to the water flow and different engines have different sized restrictions. Perhaps you could test by removing the thermostat actuating flap and just fitting the thermostat base and see if it stays at correect operating temp.
If the engine still warms up without a thermostat with the extra flow of water through the radiator without the restriction then the radiator is not cooling efficiently. Some will now say that "the water may go too fast through the rad and it will warm up" but in my experience this does not apply to RRCs which have a VERY efficient radiator if not blocked and the engine will run down next to the white "cold" band.
Regards Philip A

Will take that into consideration for when i get another thermostat.
For now i'm just going to run it without one and next time i'm in melb i'll grab one from Les Richmond Auto. That way i can trust that it's going to work and there's no risk of postage damage.
When i get a chance, and or the money, i'll get the rad checked for blockages coz it probably needs to be done soon as a precaution anyway. Given i don't really know it's history only having owned the car since late last year.

i'll just have to give her an extra long warm up in the mornings for the time being. :)