Re: The VW Jetta GLX Mailing List Digest V4 #208

[Stewart MacLund <sundie@lunaticfringe.org>]

	Here's my life lesson for your, with previous experience to back it up.

	GET THE REAL THERMOSTAT.  Yes, i know it's ridiculously expensive.  But
it's the RIGHT temperature (unless you do all your 100mph driving in
Arizona with the A/C cranked).  I'm not quite sure qwhere you got a
"cheap" thermostat, but it's not going to be worth the pain, trust me.

	GET THE O-RING.  Your old old ring is going to disintegrate as soon as
you take it out.

	Replacing: It's actually quite easy.  I'm not quite sure if the bently
tells you to do this, but the ENTIRE thermostat housing should come
off.  That means unplugging the three sensors from the housing, and
removing the (3?  i think no bently handy) to remove the entire housing
from the block.  Then, you can easily get at the thermostat on the
bench.  On the car, the housing bends in such a way that you CANNOT get
at the third thermostat bolt.  When replacing the housing, grease the
o-ring with some neutral grease.  Not a lot, just enough to get a
sheen.  Inspect, if you can get a light and your head down there at the
same time, the engine block to make sure that you're not leaving any
rubber o-ring pieces down there.

	The o-ring is actually for the mating between the housing and the
block.

	Endemic on the VR6's is the fact that the thermostat will blow up.  It
starts sticking in weird places.  Not always in the same place, either.

	Anyway.  That's my $0.02Cdn.  :)

Sundie...

> I was wondering if I should go ahead and replace the thermostat. I checked
> the dealer and they want $50+ for the thermostat plus the o-ring. I think
> it's a bit expensive. I've heard of different temperature thermostats, but
> I'm not sure how and when they would come in handy. Can anyone shed some
> light? Anyway if anyone has anymore info on this overheating thing I would
> like to hear from you. Thanks.
> 
> VWNobby
> 97 Jetta GLX - Black
> 

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Stewart MacLund				Destructibler Conundrumus
Email: sundie@lunaticfringe.org		Toronto, Ontario, CA
Fax:   +1.416.465.9148                 
http://www.lunaticfringe.org/~sundie
ICQ:   32655589                         FavGasStation: Shell
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