170 PD VRS Thermostat Location

[phil5556]

Car seems to be taking longer than usual to warm up at the moment and I suspect the stat might be stuck open/half open.

Can anyone tell me where it is on the 170 PD please?

Been searching on here and can't find anything definite.

Cheers

[booke23]

If it is the same as the 2.0 PD then it is housed at the front of the engine block, just behind/below the alternator. 

 

Two bolts hold a plastic housing on the engine block with the thermostat inside.......however access is tight!

[phil5556]

Thanks I'll check it out and see if that's where it's hiding.

Can it be done without stripping anything?

[booke23]

Well I recently changed the thermostat on my 2.0 PD 140 and I couldn't get access to one of the bolts on the housing without removing the alternator. If I had a better socket set that included a universal joint it might have been possible to get at the bolt in question.

 

However removing the alternator is quite easy....remove the aux belt and undo the 2 long bolts that hold it to it's mount....undo the wiring and out it comes.

 

I should also mention that I also was suffering from long warm up times.....especially at temperatures below 5C. I thought the thermostat might not be closing properly, however on replacing the thermostat the engine still takes a long time to warm up in freezing temperatures.....so there was nothing wrong with the old thermostat. I think the 2.0 PD is just particularly thermally efficient. 

 

An easy way to test it is to start it from cold, drive it a mile or so until you see the temp gauge rise slightly. Stop, open the bonnet and feel the black pipe coming out of the thermostat housing. It should be stone cold. It should stay cold until the coolant temp gets to around 82C.       

[phil5556]

Thanks sounds easy enough.

I will be checking the hoses for heat, maybe over the weekend. Thought if it was a 10 minute job I'd just change it for the sake of knowing it's done.

When I got the car last year one thing I noticed was how quickly it warmed up compared to the XType it replaced. It's a couple of miles to the dual carriageway and it usually sits at 90 just as I get on it, the temp gauge on the X didn't used to move by that time.

At the moment it doesn't get up to temp until a few miles down the dual carriageway now. And today in town didn't get up to temp for 30mins town driving.

Once up to temp it stays there, regardless of driving conditions.

I know it's winter but it's pretty mild at the moment.

[phil5556]

So changed it today. Whipped the alternator off too because it seemed the easiest way to get access. I was going to take the egr off and clean it but couldn't get to one of the bolts, so it's still dirty and the alternator gave good enough access.

Initial run seems that it's improved but I won't properly know until the morning after it's properly cooled right down and I take it for a drive.

[booke23]

Good stuff. Sounds like it has probably been worth it in your case. I knew pretty much right away that the new thermostat hadn't made a difference.