original thermostat goes bad after 1 year?

bought original on 27.10.2014 for mad dosh, it was previously on my mk1 which is now unregistered, still dunno whats wrong with it probably headgasket...

it was working fine on mk1, then thermostat on my mk2 1.2 went bad so i just swapped it, and since then temp gauge is constantly fluctuating, it warmps up quickly to middle withing first few km but when i set fan speed to 1 and to hot it goes down

was monitoring temperature via torque program and when temp gauge needle went down, temp dropped from 81 to 76 and then up to 81 again in like 7sec, it eventually settles to middle and stays there, dunno why it plays around like that at the beginning

bled it many times and still same ****, i remember i had same problem with fake thermostat one time, doesnt matter how many times i would bleed it, it was still doing what i described above, i bought new one and problem was solved

is temp dropping for 5 degrees celsius doing something bad to engine?
is it even worth it buying another original thermostat if it goes bad a little over after 1 year when warranty ends, unless i am doing something wrong

I assume you mean it's a genuine Fiat part, and it looks the same for both model Puntos... and that you checked compatibility.

I could just have gone duff... it might have been made in 1994 or something and was sat on the shelf.

I changed my 2001 Brava 1.2 thermostat for a Fiat one about 4 years ago when doing a big service on the cooling system. Earlier this year I noticed the car just wasn't warming up properly, I took the stat out and checked it approximately in a pan of hot water.

It seemed to open and close OK, but I just bought a decent aftermarket one from a motor factor's (Andrew Page) and it's been perfect ever since.

For my car there were 2 different thermostat designs (both were available from the same manufacturer).

Of course your Mk2 could just be destroying thermostats making them open and close due to some other issue...

bluejohn125 said:

Of course your Mk2 could just be destroying thermostats making them open and close due to some other issue...

Click to expand...

what issue i wonder

Summer no issues

Winter im also seing a dip in temperature as well wheb fans are put on

Im suspecting the diffusion of air is soo great the little engines simply cant keep enough heat going around

When its like 9deg c its fine still
Its when its -1 to 4 I get dipping when sat at the lights

It very quick restores once driving but only dips if I sit at lights

Ive had all stats now, fiat and aftermarket and they all **** up tbh....

Ziggy

is there any thermostat that is more expensive/better quality than original fiat one?

got hyundai matrix 2002 and since i bought it in 2010 only two things went bad- around 1.5 years ago, gear linkage cable, and two months back air con compressor

changing thermostats on puntos annually lollo

Your problem is the temp fluctuating.
You've decided that it is caused by the thermostat.

Start again.
Temp fluctuating.
Possible causes:
Stat
Blocked radiator
Random cooling fan
Random temp sensor
Airlock (unlikely due to multi bleeds)
Head gasket failed

headgasket was changed last year, rad fan works, rad isnt blocked cuz i changed antifreeze in july and flushed it many times then changed stat again 1 week ago and flushed it few times again

stat or temp sensor
but would bad temp sensor cause coolant temp to drop and rise
in the past it was due to bad thermostat, unless it is showing wrong data, when temp drops to 76C, temp gauge needle also drops

The thermostat could forwell be an issue

Bearing it mind it wont react quickly to a 1 or 2 degree change
But a 5 degree change it'd adjust barely

As i've said before, you blow super cold air over super hot heater matrix, your gonna get a mega diffusion of hot/cold transfers

Great - your toasty in your car
Bad, there is a surge of cooler coolant going back around which over a few mins is slowly getting detected and adjusted by the stat / sensor reading

Only if i was suddenly loosing alot of heat i'd blame it

=------=

If a new stat cures it fine for a year, but then suddenly next year same time its failing again.... itd say to me a stat fault

Ziggy