Thought so, just ordered myself one.

Does that explain why my heaters take for ever to warm up, or are they just poo anyway?

With a VRS, you shoud be able to get "hot hot" air in about 2mins from a cold start. Of course, you'd neet to select "Hot" or "Demist" on the Climatronic to do this.

When I did it I only needed to put about 300ml of G12 coolant in to top it back to where it was. There's a guide on one of the audi forums or have a search.

I just removed engine cover, the cable tray at the front of the intake manifold and unplugged the block connector to the alternator. That was enough for me to get some grips on the hose clip and remove it (loses a small amount of coolant) and then get access to the stat housing. With the stat housing removed the stat normally stays in place, so you need to have the new one ready with the o-ring in place, then do a quick-ish switch with the old one. Don't worry too much about the coolant gushing out, it looks like there's more than there actually is. Make sure you have a litre bottle of G12 on hand to top up afterwards and be careful to fit the stat the right way round.

Now G12+.

I've got the stat for mine in fact I've had it weeks lol

What tools would I need to change it ???

Was there a guide iirc.

I posted the link to the Audi World Guide earlier

I posted the link to the Audi World Guide earlier

****e lol

I knew I had seen it somewhere :S :S

Easiest way to determine if your thermostat is spent is feel your rad hoses as the engine warms up (i'm guessing the coolant flows bottom to top, the bottom hose therefore will warm up slowly quick soon after starting up. Whereas with a functioning thermostat, the water circulating around the engine and heater will get hot and then the thermostat will open after some time of running and the radiator will quickly get hot.

Will also be a factor in poor heater performance. You guys who have had cool running issues, have you noticed a few more miles to the gallon since getting it fixed?

With a VRS, you shoud be able to get "hot hot" air in about 2mins from a cold start. Of course, you'd neet to select "Hot" or "Demist" on the Climatronic to do this.

Now G12+.

Must be my thermostat then, it takes ages to get anything that resembles heat out of mine, it was a real joy in the morning when we had the snow / ice, but then again i'm a biker so i'm used to the cold

You guys who have had cool running issues, have you noticed a few more miles to the gallon since getting it fixed?

does make a difference as the ECU overfuels when the engine is colder

Hi guys more help needed .Just called my local skoda dealer and they want £25 for the thermostat ,i thought was a bit steep as my local motor factors say that they can do one for under a fiver with all the seals .

So how important is it to use genuine part ,and also they cannot supply g12 coolant but can do g 30 which is the equivalent . what do you reckon?

thanks .

Jon

I'm aiming to order a stat and sealing ring from AVS, I think it comes to about £13 with VAT.

http://www.vwspares.co.uk/

They do 1.5 litre bottles of G12++ as well.

The only question I have is if my stat is stuck open rather than closed isn't it going to p*ss out coolant from the block as soon as I disconnect the coolant hose from it?

I have noticed my mpg has gone down by a couple of mpg but I thought that was purely down to it being winter and the air being 25 degrees colder!

I dont think they get stuck open so much as they dont close fully. and yes you will loose coolant from the block when you remove it. I ended up flushing the full system as the G12 was pretty shot and there was loads of rust from the oil cooler.

Just to update this I changed the thermostat today and replaced the coolant with G12++. Bit of a nightmare job to do as it was a pain in the a*se getting all the clips off of the hoses.

The old thermostat was closed when I took it out so I tested it in a saucepan on the hob and sure enough it opened and closed properly so that was a nice waste of £30

I'll keep an eye out and see whether the 17704 code goes away but if it doesn't... are there any other suggestions as to what it could be?

The coolant temp sensor has been replaced

The thermostat has now been replaced

The clip on the multiplug to the temp sensor is broken but it is glued into the sensor with silicon sealant so it shouldn't come loose

Snap

I just changed mine took me about an hour.

Hardest part was gettting the hose clip back on the stat housing !!!

Needle goes straight too 90 now and stays there so mine was bust.

Did you manage to change it without breaking the dipstick tube ?. i broke mine just lifting off the wiring loom bracket ,

Tube intact although I did have a new one ready. they get brittle over time. My dipstick handle snapped last week so replaced them both today.

I did have to whip the loom bracket back off as I hadn't pushed the tube all the way down properly.

looks like everyone has been busy today then :D How did you guys get on with the lower bolt on the stat housing? did you have a flexible socket thingy or a really small ratchet with an allen bit?

How did you guys get on with the lower bolt on the stat housing?

I tried it with a 3/4 inch drive 5mm hex key socket and universal joint (as advised on the Audi forum guide) which I bought especially for the job... and it was pointless :'( The bracket on the back of the alternator gets in the way.

After about half an hour of fiddling I worked out the easiest thing for the bottom bolt is this:

1. Use a magnetic pickup tool to push the 5mm hex key socket into the bolt

2. Slide a 6inch long 3/4 inch drive extension bar betwen the alternator and the bracket that's in the way, push it in until it connects into the hex key socket

3. Fit your ratchet on the end of the extension and away you go

Once I'd realised this, it took less than 2 minutes to get the bolt out!!!

I didn't manage to break the dipstick tube which was luck more than judgement, as I didn't bother to remove it while I did the work. How I didn't manage to break it while trying to get a set of mole grips in there to undo and do up the coolant hose clip (the biggest pain in the a**e ever) I'll never know

I bought a new 1/4 drive and ext bars and 1/4 uni joint. slipped out and back in lovely once you line up the socket and get the right point if you know what I mean.

The bloody hose clip took about 20 mins too get back on with plumber grips !!!

Took mine for a drive yesterday and lo and behold it (seems to be) fixed!

The temperature easily gets up to 90-95 degrees now whereas before it was struggling to get much about 80. Mpg has improved slightly and the engine feels smoother, it's not quite so torquey.

Not had the 17704 fault code come back yet, fingers crossed.

I can only assume since I tested the old thermostat and it opened and closed ok, it was either opening at too low a temperature or was not closing quick enough, so coolant was flowing through the rad at times when it shouldn't have been.

I would have thought it opened too early - they are supposed to start and open at 87 and open fully at something like 102 degrees.

On another note I also spent yesterday doing mine as I have had the sed code for 2 weeks. My arms are cut to **** from the metal tray and manifold.

I didn't snap the dipstick tube because mine is less than 1 year old and comes straight off. I snapped it last year while replacing the oil tube things under the metal tray! I did however, snap one of the secondary air pump tubes so I now need to decide if I want to replace or remove

The hardest part I encountered was re attaching the stat housing, the bottom screw did not want to go in. To top that off it started raining as I was trying to get the tw*t in.

It didn't rain in Bridgend

My thermostat has just started playing up :(

Looks like Sunday will be pain in the rectum now.

Would love to know how you guys got the bottom bolt off!

What tools exactly?

The alternator has a bracket on the back of it with a rubber bung and an electric cable and this gets in the way of any tools.

However I found I could poke an extension bar between the alternator and the bracket, loosely clip a 5mm hex key socket on the end of it and just about guide it into the bottom bolt.

The extension bar I used was a halfords 3/4 inch extension and was about 5 inches long. If you have a thinner diameter extension that would fit even easier.

Diagram below, hope this helps

Edited 7 March, 201016 yr by chicken_eyebrow

I had a 125mm 3/8 bar but could find no way to get that through. Got some 3/6/9 inch 1/4 extensions coming, so will try those.

EDIT - Thanks for the pic, most useful!

Edited 7 March, 201016 yr by Liverpool-Lad

1/4 drive and three wooble bars............easy lol

The 1/4 inch extensions are much easier, and if you can get a universal joint it makes things even more easy!

I copper greased the bolts before I put them back in just in case I have to do the job again, I was panicking if they didn't come out then it would be an engine out job to get the bolts drilled out!