Noticed today that the engine is running a bit cooler than normal.

Everything appears ok, so I'm assuming it's the thermostat.
This thermostat is only 2 years old???

Has anyone else found the thermostats for these cars only seem to last 5 minutes?
They never seem to last very long at all before playing up!

I also find that the temperature they control around varies quite a bit between different brands.
The previous one ran really cool, this one is the best so far as it was near the mid point on the gauge.

It could be a dodgy dash temp sender, but this was also replaced along with the stat 2 years prior.

Can anyone recommend a decent stat for the 1.1 engine that will control at the right temp and last?

There's a few things with the Cinq' thermostat.

First of all (from memory) the regular thermostat is an 82C doodah, rather than the more usual 86C. This could be a throwback to the dark ages when the FIRE engine was born. The Earth was covered in brimstone and ash (pre Euro-III spec') and a cooler running temperature was better when 2-star petrol still existed and Greta hadn't been born yet.

These days, higher temperature is used to get rid of CO2 albeit at the expense of NOx.. so there are some Fiat engines which are still FIRE, that run at 86C or even 88C. I'm sure some fellas on here have managed to find 86C/88C stats for their Cinq's which you would imagine are after-market where the manufacturer couldn't work out why they needed to make two stats (82C and 86C) when an 86C stat would do.

So.. look for an 86C jobbie (I don't know what brands are 86C)... or fit an OE Fiat stat, which may be an 82C or may have been "upgraded" since, because an 86C stat is fine and why have an 82C and an 86C stat cluttering up the supply chain.

Fiat stat's (or at least any made by Behr or Valeo or Magneti Marelli.. even Metelli) are nice and more durable. If you buy some internet Szechuan Special... or Circoli, it's likely to degrade in its performance pretty quickly and dropping a couple of degrees from a quite low (82C) base means you're in the 70's.. (ask your dad)

Secondly, the gauge is a Veglia but it's been designed and built to cost 2 shillings and sixpence (or more likely 2.48 Zloty). Even when it's in perfect condition, it should only be regarded as the engine giving you just the general idea of what's going on, rather than anything very precise.

That said.. it works on resistance, so give your connector block (the one on the engine block temp sensor) a thorough clean.. check the sensor "prongs" are clean... and that the wiring to the connector is not frayed/fatiguing off.

That ought to stick the needle around the 86C position, which is the best I've ever seen on Titch, after a new radiator and thermostat.


Ralf S.

thaks for the reply. im not honestly sure what temperature it is rated as tbh. it did intially read ok(ish), it was just yesterday i noticed it doesnt appear to be maintaining at the temperatures it has done previously.

i think the current stat is a QH (quinton hazell) and i think the previous one was just a cheapo one.

i will most likely power through the winter and then swap it out for a better quality option as you suggested. ive never had this issue with stats in the past, they have always been pretty reliable, even cheap and nasty ones.


the engine is fully rebuilt with a new rad, new heater matrix etc. its probably a bit too efficient

was going through some bits today and found my an old stat (im terrible at keeping old crap). it was a behr item and it is marked up as being 87 degrees?
i could just fit that on the car and see if that helps, or i just buy a new one as i will only kick myself if its dodgy. are gates branded stats any good? they seem pretty easy to get hold of.

Behr is good... but your old one was removed for a reason, so I wouldn't go to the hassle of fitting it unless it's just out of curiosity and you have the time to do it.

Gates stuff is okay. They make a lot of cam-belts which I imagine need quite rigorous quality control, so their thermostats should be similarly reliable.

Last time Titch had a problem with his 'stat I fitted a new one and it made not much difference, which sounds a bit like your problem.

Even if you had the world's biggest radiator, the thermostat should keep the coolant at the rated temperature (it would open then close immediatey, if loads of very cool coolant from the giant radiator entered the circuit).

From memory, the old beast only sorted out its temperature issues when I fitted a new temperature sensor... it had a green plug on it (if I'm not confusing it with one I fitted to another car) so it would be the one near the thermostat.

It's worth taking yours out instead of changing the thermostat back to the old Behr one, and cleaning the B'jesus out of the connector forks. The sender itself is "maintenance free" so if it's turned lazy, you can only replace it. They're not tooooo dear so fitting a new one is worth a punt before you spend the same sort of money on a new thermostat.


Ralf S.

ive found the cooling system in the cinq isnt the best design, so you always get some radiant heat at the rad even with the stat closed.
the heater matrix also makes a good difference to the temp of the engine. blast the fans and you can see a temperature drop after a few mins.


the later fire engines have one near the thermostat. the cinq has one for the ecu which is in the inlet manifold.

the one for the gauge is on the back of the block, cambelt end. i have a spare which i was going to try out of interest in case its just that reading duff!

once i have ruled out the sensor i will just try a gates stat and see if that makes any difference!

finally got round to swapping out the sensor last weekend.
seems like temps are back to normal, so was either a bad connection (unlikely) or just a cheapo sensor that didn't last that long!

all seems good now anyway and i don't need to mess around changing the thermostat

dac69er said:

finally got round to swapping out the sensor last weekend.
seems like temps are back to normal, so was either a bad connection (unlikely) or just a cheapo sensor that didn't last that long!

all seems good now anyway and i don't need to mess around changing the thermostat

Click to expand...

Spoke too soon. It seems better, but still not right. The temp doesn't maintain itself that well either so the stat must be buggered
Will have to change it after all......

its a few years since my Cinq and that used to eat thermostats, cheap ones, dear ones, branded or not, they always failed open - so the engine runs cool [and with that, it will use more fuel]

I was then buying one in ready for when it went, along with its gasket.

"they all do it"! probably..

At least I'm not alone.

I could understand it more if I had a ****ty cooling system full of sludge and crap, but it's probably had more coolant changes than oil changes

Changed the stat today with a decent quality behr one as suggested and it's the same as before!!!!

I'm going to give up and put up with it as I have changed everything it could be other than the gauge

Did some testing today. Used a variable resistor box to work out the resistance required for the gauge to read 90 degrees. This was 150ohms.

I ran the car up until the fan started cutting in and out (this was around 90 degrees on the gauge.

I connected my laptop up to monitor the engine temp as monitored on the ecu temp sensor. This read around 94 degrees.

There are some slight discrepancies, but it appears that everything is ok, other than the thermostat AGAIN!!!

I have ordered a gates branded stat and will see what happens this time........

Felicity, our old 1992 Panda Parade 999cc Fire engine, had a voracious appetite for thermostats. She was a member of the family for about 18 years and would typically run for about a year/18 months/2 years after fitting a new 'stat around "normal" temp. Then, quite abruptly, it would only go up to about 1/4 scale deflection until a new thermostat was fitted. Being an old engine she didn't seem to mind it too much and drove just the same all the time although I think fuel consumption was better with a new 'stat fitted.

We've had 3 older model (Mk1) Pandas and they've all done it. I just fit whatever brand the factor has on his shelf at the time and there seems little difference as to how long they last.

We bought Becky, our 2010 Panda 1.2 Dynamic Eco a couple of years ago and her temp gauge has never gone above 1/4 unless you're stuck in traffic in the summer. So looks like they've not sorted the problem. Knowing this I've not been obsessed with getting it changed - she passes MOTs with flying colours - and I've been slowly "fettling" her as time and money allows. I've really only got the rear brakes to sort out now so will probably spoil her with a new thermostat this summer.

My girlfriend's 2008 100hp panda has had 1 thermostat and it's now done 130k+ miles, so that isn't too bad.
It is a different style stat to the older fire engines.

I just can't get over how crappy they seem to be on the older engines!

Got a gates branded stat. It is actually a calorstat brand in a gates box!

Anyway, installed it today and still no different. That's the third thermostat I have tried now, so God knows!?!?!