did 600 miles last weekend in my favorit without a sign of any trouble going to plymouth driving places the weekend and back again, passed mot today and all that needed doing was a driveshaft gator and track rod end O/S last night i peeled off the bump strips and the stupid stripes that where faded and half fell off the sides of the car and mopped it with g3, all well and happy

but then it starts overheating :| iv rigged the fan so as its permenently on, and the temprature still doesnt fall below half way at any point of driving when its got to that temprature, can anyone help?

the car is on myspace on a blog i started if anyones interested in looking, www.myspace.com/berg666

thanks

Thermostat could be failed shut or there could be an air lock in the system.

I recently drove my felicia over to germany (the long route) through france, belguim, holland etc.

No problems whatsoever!

The overheating issue could be a dodgy thermostat that isn't opening when it should!

Believe its the same on the felicia where the thermostat comes complete with the plastic housing (about £40 odd from skoda dealer) and will only take about 30 mins tops to swap over!

The Favorit has a metal thermostat housing. Just need thermostat itself (about £5 at dealers) and the thermostat gasket (about £1 at dealers), some jointing compound to smear on gasket prior to installation and coolant to top up. It's just 3 bolts to take the side off the housing. I believe the thermostat needs to be put in with the jiggle pin as high as possible.

Oh right... is it the same design (dimensions etc) as the felicia one?

It might well be the same but they use different temperature senders (well the one on mine is a single wire temp sender) and the plastic one seems to have some sort of fancy bracket for wires etc. Guess it's best to stick with what was designed for the particular car. I believe early felicias also had the metal thermostat housing.

I've managed 220 mile each way journeys with no problems. Just need to get my brakes 100% sorted, and my rear shock absorbers replaced and hoping to make the journey again

It's probably better to wire up an aftermarket or oe switch to control the fan so you can turn it on when you end up stationary. You may also want to replace the temperature switch in the radiator. Otherwise if the fan is on all the time it may wear it out.

Edited 28 July, 200817 yr by anewman

Chris, this might be a thermostat failed part open, particularly if the warmup's slow.

Alternatively, it might be the water pump not working properly, or the radiator might need flushing (esp if it's come on gradually).

thanks everyone, it has come on gradually.

noticed that its leaking water very slowly somewhere, as i topped up last week and its on minimum today.

also took it to have a new clutch and i have drove it a round for the last 2 days and an engine mount have failed somewhere.. when i turn right or reverse the engine is metal on metal rattles like hell.

got to find these problems now.. :/

if its not even a tenner il buy a thermostat and change it anyway, but how do i check the old one?

When it's cold, look for a mark like something's been dipped in liquid rust and left to try to locate a leak out of the cooling system.

The traditional method of checking a thermostat involved putting it in a pan of cold water on a piece of string, then boiling the water, and seeing if it opens. Of course, since I'm suggesting it might have stuck part-open, that would be obvious, since it will be part open when you take it out!

going to give it an hour just got when i sent the last message and im going to look for damaged engine mounts (Y)

im trying to get every single minor problem on the car fixed before i start modifying

re-spray is what i want done first, a mate of mine works at seabridge paint and performance in wolverhampton, me and him are going to spray it

im thinking of banding some steel wheels to about 225 wide, any ideas if this will fit the front? bearing in mind it will be lowered between 40-50mm? i work in steel fabrications so banding them and keeping them straight wont be a problem.

Banded steels - ah I remember those from back in the day. The big issues are that you tend to move the offset dimension because you put the extra width in a band one side of where the web meets the rim well, and getting an air-tight seam weld.

I'm not sure that 9" rims will fit under the arches at either end, even with rolled lips. Also, the tyre makers recommend that tyres are mounted on a rim that's 70 to 95% of the tyre width, so reversing that to get you'd need to find at least a 235 section tyre in what, at most a 15" fitting?

lol i wanna go crazy with it, 13" rims or 14" mayyybe

slam the car right down i have a mate who gets all peformance car parts and ice etc i was talkin to him last night and im thinking of taking it as low as it will safely go now, with new shocks and springs. also got drilled and grooved brakes discs ordered for 120 quid reckon thats a decent deal?

before i forget to ask, i have heard of stretching tyres.. for example like a 185 tyre over to like a 225 fitment. not sure what size tyres can be stretched to what size rime i may be way out.. but anyone have any ideas or information about this?

You'll need to check tyre sizes, but I don't remember anything other than possibly rally tyres wider than a 205 in 13 or 14 inch.

As for stretching tyres, don't say what vehicle you're fitting to, and ask about "Eurostyle" on a VW modifying site. I know little about it because I don't like it on looks or engineering grounds, but at least I can tell you what to look for.

ok thanks.

found today that the gearbox mount was fitted wrong back at the clutch centre, the bolt didnt go through the rubber mount, it went throught the gap at the top of the mount, causing the engine to sit at the wrong angle and split the opposite mount on the top. took it back today and they ordered a new mount and i have to take it back tuesday.

can anyone tell me what sounds to listen for, i need to know whether the timing chain is loose and i think it is, but my grandad (mechanic) reckons its not loud enough to be a timing chain. anyone any ideas?

Ever heard something rubbing on a bicycle chain? If so, it's like that, only much louder (drowning out all other sources of noise louder).

If your granddad reckons the noise isn't the timing chain, he's probably right. I'd start with the tappets, then the timing.

tappets need setting, but the tappets are a very distinct sound and i can hear the tappets aswell. this is like a rattling against plate, kind of sounds like a chain rattling against a cover, but obviously thats what i think as i havnt got much of a clue lol and its what it sounds like to me

If you can hear the tappets, it's not a worn out timing chain. Anyone who's heard a worn out timing chain should support this!

right then we are getting somewhere :P i shall do the tappets tomorow then, any ideas what to start looking at?

After doing the tappets, the next thing I'd check would be the ignition timing.

Let me state the obvious, but you're engine is starting to sound like a bag of spanners after you noticed it overheating and now your loosing coolant?

Maybe the overheat caused a small head gasket failure and the coolant is going into the engine. Could be why it is sounding like metal on metal, because enough water got in to damage something?

allways rattled, and it aint the sort of noise to me that sound like its damaged through heat. i had a ka that blew head gasket and piston sleeve/rings overheating sounded nothing like this, had engine mounts done through clutch centre screwing them up, clutch is new, cant imagine the head gasket is gone, there is no smoke, heaters work and the water is being lost out the bottom hose on the radiator i think, but when the engine is hot the water evaporates straight awayand i cant find it

A couple of odd ones Chris, based on your last.

1) Is the cooling system pressure sealed properly? Likely suspects for this are filler caps, and loose hose clips on the radiator feed and return.

2) Is there maybe a split in the expansion tank?

i checked the bottom radiator hose and cant find a split or loose hose clip, i tightened the hose clip up another turn anyway but it took some force

and i cant find a split in the tank theres no bubbles or sound and its not wet/ damp anywhere around the tank. maybe the radiator leaks..?

going to roadrunner in a bit to get some feeler gauges and tighten up the tappets, can anyone tell me the gaps?

tar

Some say 0.2mm all round, some say inlet 0.2mm exhaust 0.25mm.

Coolant often leaves white marks where it leaks.