Hi everyone,

I have been off this site for a while but im back and have a Felicia, 1998 1.3 87K hatch. I picked the car up thisevening and it was as described by the owner.

But on the way back in traffic the started to heat up to 110oC and then the fan cut in, should the fan cut in earlier or is this a normal thing with the petrols?

I was thinking it was a lazy thermostat switch? I would appriciate a little advice or help at this one.

Thanks.

start with the basics, try bleeding any air out of the cooling circuit first... was the heater getting hot too?

The heater is working as i tested earlier, the car returns to normal temp once on the move again "good air flow through rad"

How would yo recomend the best way to remove all the air is out of the system?

Edited 20 August, 201015 yr by brian1.9diesel

in light of what you've just said it is most likely a dodgy thermostat, those engines are well known for busting the thermostat housing internally as well.. if you use the search function you should find a lot of info on it on this site

The guy that i bought the car from said that he bought and installed a new thermostat - when driving along stays at the mark nicely, stop and starts to rise. how do they fail to increase temp?

Appriciate a link........ :yes:

Thanks.

i must admit mine used to do exactly the same, i tried about 5 themostat's until i got fed up with it and went and bought a genuine one which cured it...

sorry i don't understand what you mean when you say fail to increase temp?? essentially all the thermostat does is regulate how much of the coolant is circulated round the radiator. through normaly driving the temp would be off the bottom off the guage if the coolant was constantly circulating round the radiator

Check the rad is clear of debris, the Felly does have a tendency to get a little hot when sat in traffic after a run.

I believe there are TWO different thermostats available via JoRiley, the one switches at a lower temperature and is probably the better one to have.

Another possible problem is if the rad has been filled with the wrong antifreeze mix; they seem to prefer the expensive stuff pink!!

Check the rad is clear of debris, the Felly does have a tendency to get a little hot when sat in traffic after a run.

I believe there are TWO different thermostats available via JoRiley, the one switches at a lower temperature and is probably the better one to have.

Another possible problem is if the rad has been filled with the wrong antifreeze mix; they seem to prefer the expensive stuff pink!!

So all in all if they do get hot and if they dont go above the 110oC they should be ok.....? "they run hot-ish"

yeah but i think 110c is a little too hot to be honest, my 1.6 16v felicia runs quite hot. but not as hot as that

Skodas were built for a country with VERY cold winters, so they were more worried about freezing than over-heating.

If the fan is kicking in at 110C I would say you need a new fan switch, not the thermostat. (Sorry, didnt read your first post correctly)

Fan switch

Thermostat

Skodas were built for a country with VERY cold winters, so they were more worried about freezing than over-heating.

If the fan is kicking in at 110C I would say you need a new fan switch, not the thermostat. (Sorry, didnt read your first post correctly)

Fan switch

Thermostat

I gave the car a service today and I let the car heat up and kept an eye on it and we came to the same conclusion as you - top man for posting the link!

I have the part ordered and hopefully it should sort the problem.

Thanks again.

If you're having problems tracing problem etc , as a temporary measure ,you could fit a switch for you to use to short out temperature switch - at least you can get a temporary cure if stuck in traffic till you fix /find problem .Loss of face in finding fault is less expensive than blown head gasket .

^^ that's what i've done to mine, drilled a hole in one of the switch blanks on the dash and fitted a single pole toggle switch so i can over-ride the fan to make it stay on.... word of caution though, don't over-do it, the radiator fan is not designed to run constantly all the time, it will burn out if you run it too long

hello, i had same problem on my Skoda Favorit. When i stop on traffic jam, engine started heated. Even though I changed Thermostat. I Bought Thermostat for Skoda 120 and hot engine is never again. Thermostat for Skoda Favorit turns air cooler at 95°C, but thermostat for skoda 120 turns on air cooler at 87 - 91 °C. But air cooler is still ON. But there do not know exactly what you rolled. I got even Favorit with a carburetor 

Or start to ride faster , or Give away the front hood .

Good luck!

^^ that's what i've done to mine, drilled a hole in one of the switch blanks on the dash and fitted a single pole toggle switch so i can over-ride the fan to make it stay on.... word of caution though, don't over-do it, the radiator fan is not designed to run constantly all the time, it will burn out if you run it too long

Old trick learned from AA in London was to fit fuse link across temp switch - hence my tip .

yeah some sort of thermal cut-out would be good, no doubt you could get one from maplin for less than 5p

^^ that's what i've done to mine, drilled a hole in one of the switch blanks on the dash and fitted a single pole toggle switch so i can over-ride the fan to make it stay on.... word of caution though, don't over-do it, the radiator fan is not designed to run constantly all the time, it will burn out if you run it too long

If you were really sophisticated, you would rig it to cut in when the car was out of gear or idling, although ideally what we need is for someone to come up with a "Summer/Winter" switching relay with two different switching temperatures.

If you were really sophisticated, you would rig it to cut in when the car was out of gear or idling, although ideally what we need is for someone to come up with a "Summer/Winter" switching relay with two different switching temperatures.

Now that would be fancy!!

what we need is for someone to come up with a "Summer/Winter" switching relay with two different switching temperatures.

when you say someone you mean me right?

i'll have a think about it and see what i can come up with

I took delivery of my tempature sender unit and the thermo fan switch today and got them fitted and it has worked.

The car once above the 3 oclock position the fan switches on "so an improvment on the 110oC"

so the car should sit in traffic alot better and not get so hot.

Oh, forgot to say that to fix the problem was £15 delivered £10 for the fan switch and £5 for the reader

Edited 24 August, 201015 yr by brian1.9diesel

when you say someone you mean me right?

i'll have a think about it and see what i can come up with

Tom, if I had a felly here and the time to tinker I would do it, but my son and his felly live 45 miles away and with my illness I just do not have the energy to do much by the time I have finished work.

What amazes me, we have t1o thermostat thread going; 1 saying too hot, the other too cold!!

it gets worse than that! you see the same questions asked on here week in week out, often you get like 5 threads asking exactly the same question right on top of each other.. i always assume that the search button must be broken

as it happens, i have been applying some thought to this subject, those with a 1.6 aee vw engine may be in luck, there is a 'spare' blank right next to the coolant sensor which could accept a second sensor which will be of some use, thinking about using a coolant sensor as a series resistor to control the speed of the radiator fan.. more on this later

Edited 25 August, 201015 yr by TeflonTom

Well, to be fair, it does depend on exactly how the thermostat and/or housing self-destruct as to whether it ends up sticking open or closed!

something else i've just thought of too, on the vw engined cars you can get alternative thermostats that operate at a lower temp as well.. might be worth a look

it gets worse than that! you see the same questions asked on here week in week out, often you get like 5 threads asking exactly the same question right on top of each other.. i always assume that the search button must be broken

as it happens, i have been applying some thought to this subject, those with a 1.6 aee vw engine may be in luck, there is a 'spare' blank right next to the coolant sensor which could accept a second sensor which will be of some use, thinking about using a coolant sensor as a series resistor to control the speed of the radiator fan.. more on this later

I have tried to use the search on this site to try and solve the problem but I didnt find it that great, and it is the same for the soundproofing thread.

Edited 25 August, 201015 yr by brian1.9diesel