What average temp do Barchetta's show?

Mine runs about half way between the first and second grads, i.e. not very high! Stationary, a traffic jam e.g. with no ram air it will rise to exactly mid-way and self regulate perfectly, then drops right down when in motion again.

There is no induction kit etc etc it's a perfectly standard engine.

Where do you live? Is it extremely cold? If not, it look like you need a new thermostat. During regular driving (even in clod Scotland), the needle should be halfway up the guage (if forget the temp, 90*C?)

Thanks Bud I had thought as much... Cheltenham has been a bit nippy, but hardly the Antarctic

so it's a mechanical thermo? as opposed to an electric sensor which cuts the fan in/out? Sorry, only Mini/MG knowledge here!

Easy job?

Charlie, there are 2 grades of thermostat, 83 and 88 degC, I know because when I needed to change mine, the local spares place only had the 83deg one. I was keen to use the car so bought it.

Also, you should have a mechancical thermostat in an MG, some people did take them out and use an electric fan to regulate the temperature but that is normally to hide an overheating issue. If you remove the thermostat, the coolant always flows through the rad, and thus the car takes a long time to warm up.

Also, a thermostat sets the minimum running temperature, I changed my thermostat as mine was only just clearing the bottom mark even when driven for a while. I replaced it as the thermostat was stuck open and thus the coolant flowing through the radiator stopped the water warming up. I replaced it (with the 83 degC one ) and the temp now sits just below half way. Thus your symptom sounds like your thermostat is stuck open.

Easiest way to check is to start the car up and go for a drive to get it to normal temperature, if the gauge is much below half way, feel the top coolant hose, if it feels warm (say about 60 degC) then your thermostat is stuck open. If the thermostat is fine, the pipe should feel cool and then suddenly get hot as the gauge approaches half way.

Chris

Not sure you have a problem All B's run low on the gauge as standard. Mine runs between 1st and 2nd notch all the time. The fan coming on when it goes above 2nd. If I use the aircon and the outside temp is high then the needle sits in the middle but both fans are on all the time.


You can tell if your thermo is working by watching the gauge when the engine warms. Needle will rise to 2nd notch then drop back down as the valve opens and then stabilise.

Rusty, when I have previously asked on this forum, the replies I got were 8 to 830 or 3 o clock, so I am guessing 1/3rd or half way up the gauge so maybe there are different temp stats fitted to different cars, lower temp ones on those sold in hotter areas????

My fan doesnt kick in till just before 3 oclock - i.e. probably just above 90degC...

Seems there is no concensus lol

(and the site won't let me post the link!!!)

the heater doesn't whack out nuclear heat, so i suspect the thermostat 'may' be dodgy, if anything.

Where does it sit?!

topher said:

Rusty, when I have previously asked on this forum, the common reply was that normal temperature is mid way (i.e. 3 0 clock)

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It's my understanding, especially in aviation at least (!) that a "normal" position is usually mid-way on any given guage, i.e. 70mph will usually be uppermost, or pressures/temps will usually sit at a mid position. This in theory makes a quick scan for problems/abnormalities easier.

Appreciate the assistance anyway

If it runs less than 80'c on the move at speed, you need a new thermostat.

Rustbucket said:

Not sure you have a problem All B's run low on the gauge as standard. Mine runs between 1st and 2nd notch all the time. The fan coming on when it goes above 2nd.

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:yeahthat:

Me too.

Matt

mine runs at 3 o'clock or half way most of the times unless I am speeding then it goes down..

Its possible there are different therms fitted. My car is an Italian domestic model bought in Cremona and driven back..cooler therm fitted?

CharlieBrown said:

It's my understanding, especially in aviation at least (!) that a "normal" position is usually mid-way on any given guage, i.e. 70mph will usually be uppermost, or pressures/temps will usually sit at a mid position. This in theory makes a quick scan for problems/abnormalities easier.

Click to expand...

Usually..in sensible aeroplanes..I fly a French built Robin 2600. ASI in meters / sec not feet per second and ASI in Kmh..makes it interesting ('specially when a novice drives it..) and some of the clocks read backwards (fuel gauges left to right).

My gauge runs like this as well - I don't think you have a problem.
xS

When i bought my car in the UK it used to run at half way (80?) at all times, after the engine had warmed up, but then when i came to Prague where it's regularly been below 0 at night and sometimes during the day, it hovers just above 50 especially with my fan heater on.. no air con on my 98 LE.
I wondered about whether my thermostat was dirty or malfunctioning and also whether changing from blue to red antifreeze might influence this. (I'm not sure i want to hear the responses to that).
However, when stuck in a traffic jam, the temp will go up to half way and no more... so learned people, do i have a thermostat problem too?

Yes Tarique, you too need a new thermostat.

Are you on commission?!

Gents, on eBay there is a thermostat thing which looks like a complete assembly housing (plastic with pipe flanges etc), also available is a metal, traditional looking, archetypal "thermostat".

In order to change a thermostat, is one to presume the metal object which I know to be a common-or-garden thermostat all I need? Or the assembly bit?

Where is it on the car?!

Commission? Merely passing on experience. Seems like more than one owner on here could do with a new 'stat. Symptoms are exactly the same as mine.

The thermostat unfortunately doesn't come apart like some, you can't just buy the thermostat element. You need the full alloy casting, I'm afraid.

If you take off the air ducting near the throttle body you will uncover it. It's attached to the side of the engine.

edit: Part number 1 in the diagram below.

Mine does like the same thing...when I run normaly on the road the temp is below half way -under 90 degrees. it gets there only in traffic jam.
It does this thing and I have new thermostat....I replaced the old one bacause I had problems with the heating inside the car... and fuel consumption high. Now all is OK.
So I will say this is the right temp for the B. engine to work

Mine varies a lot depending on the ambient temperature. For the past few weeks it runs between the first and second marks on the gauge but in the summer it runs higher - roughly half way.

Surely if the thermostat was stuck open (to cool the engine) the fans would be on all the time... which they aren't?