[AJAS]

First time I have had a thermostat fail for many years, but behaviour is very odd......

In the morning, I drive about 8 miles (7 of those on a dual carriageway at speed) before the gauge shows normal. After it gets there, it stays there (bang in the middle)

On the way home, I travel about 2 miles before I am in traffic crawling at 5mph max for the next 2 miles - it takes nearly 15 mins before the temp gauge hits normal. After that, it stays there.

Very odd - anyway, how easy is it to do the job? I am at the stage of life where 30mins in the cold is worth paying my local garage to do a job!

 

[kevgib]

Odd behaviour, does the temp drop on the open road, indicating avstuck open stat? If it has to changed-

The Lancia variant is a hell of a lot cheaper, but the housing needs to be swapped over as its different,
part is item # 7 and the Fiat/Lancia part number is 71770215

Never done it myself though...

 

[AJAS]

Hi, nope, once at temperature it stays there like a good 'un!

 

[kez]

not a difficult job at all to do, although may take you little longer than 30min to fully finish.............refill with coolant, bleed system

 

[kez]

tbh I don't think you have a major problem with your stat

given its a diesel and with the cold weather coming I would say your looking at around 7 or so miles 10-15min driving before it will hit normal operating temperature.

do you have a code reader that does live data ?.............this would be more accurate at recording the actual temperature

 

[vaipetr]

tbh I don't think you have a major problem with your stat

given its a diesel and with the cold weather coming I would say your looking at around 7 or so miles 10-15min driving before it will hit normal operating temperature.

do you have a code reader that does live data ?.............this would be more accurate at recording the actual temperature

^^^
Agreed, now it's colder outside it takes me almost a full drive to work (7-8 miles) to reach middle, but that's normal for these diesel engines I guess. Once the needle is in the middle - it should not drop while engine running(unless you would have a few mile long down slope to cruise without any throttle). A good way to check if your stat is not opening prematurely is to stop while the needle is just under middle, like 3/8 of gauge or a bit more, pop the bonnet and feel the thick hose going from stat to radiator - it should be cold.