Technical 1.1 Still Running a Bit Cold After New Thermostat?

[koalar]

Been down the A500 this morning and kept an eye on the guage, temperature was around +1

The car was hot by the time it reached my house from 2.5 miles away

Mine has the later combo housing, which I feel isn't as good at holding the temperature, however that might just be because the car has blown a head gasket in the past

Down a gradient vs up is about a needles width variation, blower on 2, granted there's only about 1 mile of coasting

The heaters feel the same, hand in the centre vent

Parked up for an hour in a spermarket car park, start the car and the gauge was at the bottom. But probably not fully cold. There was a few waits for traffic but by the time I was at their petrol station maybe 5 minuites the car was already at the halfway mark

 

[jrkitching]

There was a few waits for traffic but by the time I was at their petrol station maybe 5 minuites the car was already at the halfway mark

Provided the thermostat is doing its job, the Panda warms up pretty quickly, and stays there even on cold days and even when driving gently. Just as well, because it uses a lot more fuel until it reaches normal operating temperature.

When parked, the length of time it takes to cool down in icy weather depends largely on how much wind is blowing through the front grille, so if you have a choice, don't park it with the front facing into wind and the engine will be a bit warmer when you come back to it.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Maybe worth saying my new thermostat failed nearly straight away. It was the other (newer) type but its clearly not impossible. It was an Origianl Birth part and they have a no quibble replacement warranty with S4P so another was with me almost immediately. No problems since. S4P were brilliant incidentally.

 

[koalar]

Provided the thermostat is doing its job, the Panda warms up pretty quickly, and stays there even on cold days and even when driving gently. Just as well, because it uses a lot more fuel until it reaches normal operating temperature.

When parked, the length of time it takes to cool down in icy weather depends largely on how much wind is blowing through the front grille, so if you have a choice, don't park it with the front facing into wind and the engine will be a bit warmer when you come back to it.

Correct

I still dubious the initial post

"bit under the middle of the gauge, even after a 30 minutes"

There's still too many unknowns such as blower setting,

Cars parked on top of a mountain and so on


"Once warmed up at idle it doesn't seem to do it."

Wonder if that's because the cabin in now warm so there's no need to put the Blowers on max

Or there's no air flowing over the radiator

If it's the later it would imply a lazy thermostat


In winter you really don't want the Blowers passed the second setting


We need a bit more information/feedback before normal operation can be called

 

[09 johno]

I think you are worrying too much, there is not a trickle valve in the thermostat to allow warm coolant to bring up the temperature coolant in the radiator, so when its closed the temp increases from the engine, as soon as the stat opens ice cold coolant is passed into the engine from the radiator, which is seen on the gauge. Although i am on the south coast we were in freezing sea fog at -5degc (inch of ice on the glass!) yesterday and this is what happened to my 1.1 engine, nice and warm blowing hot through the vents then as the stat opened the gauge needle dropped quickly but soon recovered back to around the 1/2 mark but also dropped more than normal going downhill throttle off. Mine is also a new thermostat fitted last month.

 

[koalar]

It's quite a clever self regulating system

Not just an on off tap

It doesn't ever dump stone cold water

The bottom hose hose starts to warm up before the top, don't believe me just put your hand on the bottom hose and top hose a minute after you started the car

The gauge is computer driven, and is pretty dead at the centre mark, which is 80C - 90C, this stabilisation is done on purposes so customers don't complain

Even at minus 5 it should get up to temperature in the first 10 minutes

A radiator blind will do very little during the warm up period if the thermostat is doing its job properly nothing is flowing -30 maybe to keep the heat under the bonnet

It's also fairly common on other makes of car, that after changing the thermostat it no longer maintains it temprature



If the gauge is better in town but drops while driving faster is hinting the stat is opening to early, to much or not closing fast enough

It shouldn't be below halfway after 30 minutes driving, even down hill as long as long as the Blowers are on 1 or 2

 

[RayovacWorkhorse]

Update, noticed an slight intermittent misfire/stumble at idle and felt a little down on power, checked the resistance of the coils and they were way out of spec

Replaced coils and leads, checked plug gaps (all bang on) and the temperature problem (and the misfire) appears to have disappeared!

 

[jrkitching]

Great news! If it was that bad, you may also now notice a welcome improvement in fuel economy.

 

[RayovacWorkhorse]

Great news! If it was that bad, you may also now notice a welcome improvement in fuel economy.

Aye, before I did the thermostat I was getting around 40 (mix of motorway and surface streets), after that, 45ish, I'll see on the next fill-up!

It has had a little stumble at idle for a long while but the past month or so it felt like what little power it had was dropping off quite a bit, plus a bit of hesitation when pulling away. Coils read about 5-6 ohms across the primaries, which is about 5 too many

Now then, onto the passenger window regulator, which has broken, AGAIN

i also just replaced all the suspension with KYB shocks and febi arms and this is how it repays me

 

[RayovacWorkhorse]

51.6 mpg, thats more like it