thermostat!

I had the same problem this time last year. Ended up buying every thermo I could find from salvage yards; however, I also found out that Aircooled.net sells a Mexican version, which is a wire coil, as opposed to the diaphragm type and is reputed to work as well.

The flap actuator doesn't have to move very far from full closed to full open, so I see no reason why the coil wouldn't finction as well.

Speedy Jim

Its best to have them working. They are there to keep the engine upto operating temperature. If you didn't need them - VW wouldn't have put them there :-)

Running cool will use more fuel for one !

Its been covered here before - try googling.

Rich

As many know I use the thermostats mostly for paperweights.

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">Den's1977 Puma

In a warmer climate like SoCal, you could get away without a thermostat.

In CO you need one.

The consensus on this forum is that they are indeed necessary items especially if it gets quite cold in the winter. It will add to the longevity of your engine by allowing it to warm up faster so the oil can burn off harmful deposits and moisture.

It's exactly the same concept as the thermostat in a watercooled engine's radiator system. The engine will run without it, but not the way it was intented to and it can cause long term damage if running in cold weather that way. We all know engines run worse when cold. So there has to be a system to get it to proper oprating tempurature as fast as possible.

~Anthony

I am heading into my third winter with my 63 "winter" car here in Black Forest (North of Colorado Springs, CO). I have fully functional flaps w/OG style thermostat, CHT, OT and OP gauges.

Normally, it takes me about 8 miles in the morning for my OT to reach

180=BAF. Midway through last winter I noticed that not only was the OT needle barely off the lower peg at the 8 mile point, but I was starting to see that milky white emulsion on the inside of the oil filler cap. Sure enough, the thermostat had failed and the flaps were full-open (like yours are). At ambient air temps under 32=BA, my engine just refused to warm up to anything like normal operating temps in normal commute driving.

Note that the new style thermostats may not fail in the flaps-open "safe" position as the OG style does. I have not examined one first hand, but those who have report that it will fail in the "flaps closed" position.

As they say in the movies, choose wisely.

Max

On 24 Oct 2005 09:34:12 -0700, "Steve" scribbled this interesting note:

John Willis snipped-for-privacy@airmail.net (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

The flaps are extremely important, even in warm climates, to get your engine thru the high-wear warmup period. It's well worth getting it put back together correctly. Proper assembly requires both installation and adjustment, as well as checking that all the parts are there and free to move.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Not sure that "the coil wouldn't function as well" since it will fail in the closed position. Whereas the original failed in the open position.

i am replacing a broken thermostat,,,,

is there a good rule of thumb for setting spring tension?? slight tension,,, half way,,, or full tension

is it a good idea to slightly alter this setting for "winter" v "summer" driving

thanx all

Karl wrote:

closed position.

closed position.

Apparently there were 2 different kinds of original thermostats: some failed closed, but most failed open. While all the ones I've seen fail have failed open, Bob Hoover has made the point that that's not always the case.

I've no experience with the new version. What makes you expect it to fail closed?

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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closed position.

Gene Berg has some. Ask for part# VW 111-119-159A