HI,

I think the thermostat may be broken on my felicia. It's a 1.9 2001 diesel, and since it froze in the recent cold spell, it's been overheating. The top radiator hose gets hot, but the bottom hose stays cold - I'm guessing this could be the thermostat stuck? The car does blow warm air. I haven't taken it on long journeys, but it seems to take longer for the temperature guage to go up. It stays in the middle of the guage (at about 3' o'clock) but that's driving with the blowers on and the windows down. There is a leak under the car of coolant - but it leaked before so that may not mean much.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Fleecie

Stuck closed shouldn't allow heat into the matrix for hot air through the vents, I don't think. The best I can suggest is to run all the checks for head gasket failure, but that's only really 'to eliminate it from enquiries' in the absence of a better suggestion...

Hope it's not the head gasket, but probably is. I was told by a VW garage that the head gasket was leaking and would go in the next few days - they quoted me a minimun of £500 - which I couldn't afford, so I left it and hoped for the best. Anyhow, that was nearly a year ago, so maybe it's finally gone?

Oh well, could keep driving with my fingers crossed, or dig out the haynes guide and attempt a cylinder head removal, although I think it may be a repair too big for me..

Thanks for replying :-)