Astra running cold ;-(

Yes, to change the thermostat you must disturb the belt. If it is old then change it, otherwise leave it, these engines are not usually hard on the belt.

AFAIK all these have the spring loaded tensioner pulley that relies on the water pump eccentric to provide variation of belt tension (the tensioner has a central pointer that should be lined up by rotating the pump) If you use a genuine belt then the pointer is usually lined up sufficiently closely not to worry about moving the pump. The water pump is sometimes very stuck. I have known the pump to be destroyed by removing it. The trick is to take off the water pipe at the back of the pump, and with a long bar and a big hammer knock the pump out of its recess. Depending on the tensioner type and position you may need to move the pump.

If you do have to disturb the pump to get the tension right then I would recommend removing the pump and cleaning the recess before reassembly with a new o-ring.

Best to use all genuine parts : thermostat and o ring, pump and o ring, belt and tensioner (if it is noisy or sticking.)

mrcheerful

Ah, the 'pity' is that I changed the belt recently (like with a few hundred miles ..) ;-(

I saw that when I changed the bet .. seemed close enough ;-)

Ok, well it's nice to know what to expect .. just in case. We did check the pump bearings (by hand / ear) and they seemed 'ok'. I did notice a bit of water / calcium marking behind the power steering pump (sits within the cam belt area) but it could have been from a while ago.

I can't really afford the pump at the moment .. and if it goes it might go noisy before it leaks (buying us some time?). If I had the spare cash I would probably do it 'because' but where do you stop ...especially on an older car?

Thanks for yer time again fella ..

All the best ..

T i m

Ah, in that case the pump should still move almost as easily as it did when you did the belt, in which case remove it & grease the O ring & the bit on the wet side & it'll come out easily next time

Ah .. "as easily as it did when you did the belt" ..

After I fitted the new belt I checked the tensioner arrow and it was a touch under the 'ideal' position (as the belt bedded in the alignment would have been better still) so I left the pump alone?

The 100 dollar question is do I change the pump 'while I'm there' .. spending more money on a tidy but pretty worthless vehicle (these days) .. or deal with if and when I have to?

It was worthwhile doing the cambelt because it was cheap if that went we could wave byebye to the engine / car .. but what risk is there of the water pump failing catastrophically and snapping the cambelt etc?

Or anything else failing ... ;-(

All the best ..

T i m

Pays your money , takes your choice then. Although Astra heads aren't that expensive down the scrappys.

What would *you* do Duncan .. assuming the age of the pump was unknown but it ran smooth to the touch and wasn't leaking?

Although Astra heads aren't

Good to know ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

will make a heck of a noise before disintegrating completley so probably OK to leave well alone. There was about 1/4" movement in the pulley on one I just did.

Halfords have a "buy 3 get the cheapest one free" on water pumps, plugs, filters etc at the moment.

Dunno about the 1.4s but I've had several 1.6 & 2.0 engines break a belt with no engine damage.

Woah .. ok .. I'll leave the pump this time (still gotta do the stat .. shame I just did the antifreeze .. ) ;-(

I generally buy all my stuff trade so a filter is about a pound .. good to know the Halfords thing though .. shame I didn't know about that before .. I've just put a new pump on the pinto lump ready for the kit car upgrade, I could have done this Astra one and done the Rover for free ;-)

I assume they would all be 'non safe' engines though .. were you just lucky do you think?

All the best ..

T i m

No I think they're non-interference engines, i.e. safe ones.

See if it came out easily, change the O ring that seals it if it did, if not ignore it.

I ignored it ;-)

Well, I boiled a cup of water in my mates microwave and dropped the new stat in .. nothing.

Pulled the new one out and dropped in the old one and it opened ..

Left the new stat in a cup of near boiling water then boiled some more in a bigger mug and then dropped the (hot) stat in that .. and it

*just* opened.

Based on the fact it did actually open I fitted it back in and ran the thing up on tickover .. it showed about 1/4 on the temp gauge before I felt the stat open (top hose got very hot).

I took it out for a spin (70 mph then some slow bits) and it never got much over 1/4 (85 deg if I'm reading it right). The stat said 92 deg.

Do I have a choice of temp senders that might bring the gauge up to say 'half' or is it reading low typical for an 93 1.4i Astra (the old

2L GL Sierra Estate only showed 1/2 on the temp gauge (when running).. for 22 years ).

All the best ..

T i m

Also sprach T i m :-

I always boil 'em on the stove.

As do I if I was at home .. but I was having to do the job on my mates '2 poster' with his air driver and Snap-On tools, being made cups of tea (in the microwave) and bought lunch .. all in his heated garage .. can't have that *and* a stove I suppose ...(I will ask him though) ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

You may or may not have a choice of thermostats. As long as you're satisfied that the stat opens & closes then I wouldn't worry about it. It could be that there's something not quite right with the gauge electronics. I'm sure my old cavaliers only used to read 1/4 or 1/3. My Carlton reads maybe 1/3.

Thanks for that ..

I was thinking more along the line of the temperature sensor? I thought they come in different colours, each colour representing a different temperature / resistance?

ie, The one that is in there at the moment is a sort of weak white in colour. If they do (say) a blue insulator then that could have a lower restitance for the same temp resulting in a higher reading on the gauge?

After running about for a couple of days now it does seem to tend between 1/4 and 1/2 on the gauge so it's not too bad?

All the best ..

T i m