[V6-12v] Car not getting up to temp in winter...thermostat not the problem

[James Whitehouse]

Yeah, the other thing that's always worth checking before replacing a
thermostat is that the multifunction sensor which feeds the dashboard temp
gauge (not the other coolant temp sensor which only feeds the ECU) is
working to spec. If not it can read low/high and you end up misdiagnosing a
faulty thermostat. You can do it with a volt meter before you go to the
trouble of doing a thermostat change. Glad it was a simple prob in the end
though.

James


On 6/7/05 3:51 am, "Austin Franklin" <austin at darkroom.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> 96 A4Q 12V, was not getting up to temp in winter, so I just put cardboard
> over the radiator, and it worked great for the cold weather (I got heat, car
> was at temp), and removed in the warm, works great as well.  I thought it
> was the thermostat...and given that it's major surgery, I decided to do the
> timing belt (car has 70k miles, and is 10 years old), water pump, pulleys
> etc. as well as the thermostat.  All went well (KTR in Ayer, MA did all that
> work for $300 and I highly recommend them, plus parts were $200 from
> Shokan...they let me buy the parts) but the thermostat wasn't bad!
> 
> It ended up being the expansion tank cap wasn't venting.  It's supposed to
> rattle when you take it off and shake it (like a PCV valve) to allow
> pressure to escape...as the pressure will keep the thermostat open...so a
> new $8 cap fixed the problem.  I needed to do the timing belt etc. anyway,
> but I wish I had figured out the cap in the winter.
> 
> But, all is well now with the cooling.  On to the mirror and other minor
> issues.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Austin
> 
> 
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