As the title says. The original thermostat housing had decayed and wasn't letting any water through but i had a 1.4 16v polo from the same year lying about so i fitted the thermostat housing from that one, however now the polo never gets its temp above 70 degrees c unless stopped in traffic, before it used to always sit at 90. Should I buy the new parts or is it not worth the money or bother, how important is it to be at 90?

could it be the temperature sender? did you swap it over from the other housing?? are your pipes getting hot? radiator fan coming on etc

sounds like the thermostat is stuck open

could be that the housing has broken where the stat sits.

winters here so if its running cool youll have very little heat in the car and freeze your bollocks off

and also the ecu gets a reading of the temp so may run the car a little rich,as it should run at 90deg

I think the thermostat is stuck very slightly open, running rich hmm.... basically its going to cost me about £50 for a new thermostat and housing, is it worth it? Am i going to use up more than £50 worth of petrol running rich over the next year or so?

I think the thermostat is stuck very slightly open, running rich hmm.... basically its going to cost me about £50 for a new thermostat and housing, is it worth it? Am i going to use up more than £50 worth of petrol running rich over the next year or so?

Get in the for sale section and ask about. I picked up the whole bit with a thermostat in it for bout a tenner i think. PM some people breakin cars of the same year and put an ad in the 'wanted' section

Dan

I think the thermostat is stuck very slightly open, running rich hmm.... basically its going to cost me about £50 for a new thermostat and housing, is it worth it? Am i going to use up more than £50 worth of petrol running rich over the next year or so?

Get in the for sale section and ask about. I picked up the whole bit with a thermostat in it for bout a tenner i think. PM some people breakin cars of the same year and put an ad in the 'wanted' section

Dan

thats such a brilliant idea!

can get the whole kit off ebay for afair bit less

I take it you've swapped the thermostats over? Or are you using both the other housing and the one that was in it? If you haven't already tried it,take the thermostat out the old housing and swap it for the possibly faulty one in the replacement housing - And take care to ensure its seated correctly.

It's not just about petrol consumption when an engine runs rich, you can lose performance, foul up plugs and even cause oil dilution in severe cases. Also, by running too cool, you tend to get a lot of condensation in the engine (especially at this time of year) you also tend to suffer more engine wear and of course your heater wont give the output that it should.

Regards.