Thermostat housing questions.

[Joe420]

Hello, recently replaced the radiator on a family members felicia and now the plastic tabs holding the thermostat in place have decided to break too wich seems to of resulted in coolant spraying out around the temp sensor, just after filling with new coolant . . . It seems the plastic bits have gone down the engine, is there a chance these will do damage?

 

 

After some reading i have a few questions, first is i read cheap ebay ones arn't always great so any suggestion of where to get one would be great? I'm only really looking for the empty casing if possible. Found this on eurocarparts http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Skoda_Felicia_1.3_1997/p/car-parts/car-cooling-parts-and-car-heating/cooling/thermostat-housings-gasket/?200440221&1&8fa7ec7aacea37678acd3aa3a2a92618f50a20ba&000575 but the pictures entirely different so not sure if it's a generic picture or not.

 

I think i have all the parts of the thermostat in the picture below?

 

 

In the haynes the picture looks like the thermostat has a pin looking thing coming out of it, just wondered if the hole in the end is meant to have anything poking out?

 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Edit: If anyone has a part number it would be appreciated too, thanks.

Edited 15 September, 2014 by Joe420

[dohnjoe]

you should start by telling us what type of Felicia you're working on and the year of fabrication.

filling 92 polo c as your car on a Skoda forum will not help getting answers...

[Joe420]

Oh yeah thanks, my bad. Meant to put it but i forgot. It's a 1997 petrol 1.3 mpi. Deffinately one of the skoda engines rather than the vw ones too. Wasn't on my car bit cause it's not my car but i'll add it anyhow, makes sense. Thanks for mentioning.

[dohnjoe]

It seems the plastic bits have gone down the engine, is there a chance these will do damage?

you don't want foreign objects in your cooling system for two reasons:

- they can choke the flow of coolant -> overheating, no heat from heater, etc

- they can get stuck in thermostat or pump blades -> bad day

I think i have all the parts of the thermostat in the picture below?

there are bits missing, see photos.

 

 

If anyone has a part number it would be appreciated too, thanks.

047121111A - no A/C

047121111B - with A/C

[Joe420]

Thanks for replying, yeah i'm not too happy about plastic bits being in there. If you or anyone else has any suggestions of how best to remove them please share. Thanks for the pictures but to be honest i think thats a different thermostat. Luckily my local euro carparts people offered to order in the three types of thermostat they sell and i can go there tomorrow and with any luck they'll have a match for me. As i said though any suggestions about removing the bits in the engine would really help. Thanks for your help.

[dohnjoe]

getting those bits out could be tricky.

here is my method:

- drain coolant

- remove alternator belt

- remove radiator

- remove thermostat housing

- remove lower metallic pipe (the one with a drain screw)

- remove heater matrix

- flush back & forth with a water hose the cooling circuit (rotate by hand the pump when flushing it)

- separately flush back & forth with a water hose the parts removed

- if possible watch for/collect all bits flushed out for peace of mind

 

while my method may seem overkill, I take very seriously any overheating possibility that may kill an engine.

 

third-party thermostats for Felicia 1.3 come in many shape/colour of parts.

basically they should have the same overall size and open/close at same temperature.

component parts are shown below.

 

operation principle

[Joe420]

Yeah i was hoping to avoid flushing it all out but i think you're right. maybe not overkill though, just me being lazy. Seems like it's the proper way of dealing with it. Thanks for mentioning the thermostat too, hoped to just replace the housing but the ones from eurocarparts all have new ones in them anyhow, not a bad thing i guess though. It's the first time dealing with the cooling system but you've given me everything i needed to know so thanks a lot for all the help.