Re: Oh my God, I don't have a thermostat!

I have three thermostats. One on my workbench and two on the shelf. I have seen engines ruined by to much heat but never by running to cold. I know the arguments by heart but I have never experienced or seen an engine frozen to death.

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Over cooling kills too. It just takes longer.

Max

All are welcome. BOB - Bring own bottle ;)

Jan

That's the trick, you don't *see* the slow progress of accelerated wear and poor mileage etc...

There's no spectacular display of smoke and fire, anf flyin pieces of metal to be seen.

Jan

Why? Running low on NOS?

Max

hehe, yepp... besides it's illegal here.. even on race track..

Jan

But It DOES run like crap in the winter time and when it's cold.

But if that's the only way you have EVER seen or felt an aircooled VW engine run, then you would assume it's normal, and nothing is wrong!

I have seen it enough times over here, and that's just because of lack of maintenance and esxcess wear, engine out of tune. In the US it has been common (however POOR) practise to remove the flaps and thermostat for YEARS, and I'm getting the feeling that finding an INTACT vw bug engine is getting rare.

Getting a chance to drive a perfectly tuned, well running bone stock beetle engine is an amazing, eye-opening experience if you were used to the "commonly accepted standard" of condition you usually see them in.

Jan

On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 19:40:44 +0300, Jan Andersson ran around screaming and yelling:

Jan is 100% correct on this statement....i know, from experience...

Like I said, I've never seen it in 40 years and thousands of vwac miles. What should I look for after 60,000 or so miles?

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What did the last leakdown test show?

How many cold-starts per 100 miles is normal for these 60K miles?

Does this engine leak oil? If so, how much?

How much oil does it burn?

Other than periodic head maintenance, has this engine required any major work?

Do you keep records that would allow you to answer these questions?

Max

You can't easily see overall wear. You might see leaks, caused by uneven thermal expansion (it really needs to be very accurately controlled in these engines, due to different metals being used together). You would notice a difference in fuel mileage.

The biggest difference you would see if you just drove a *complete*, correctly built or "new" factory engine (with 60k on it) for a longer period of time. (So you'd get used to it). Then going back to an engine that was run without these bits and pieces for 60k miles. Yes there is a difference.

Jan

I'm just giving you guys a hard time ya know. If you believe in the power of flaps to protect you from oil leaks and running rough, it is ok with me. I do have the flaps on two engines myself and even been known to put in a thermostat in one of them in the cold winters.

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:)

Jan