Hi guys,

Last Thursday, my Fun started boiling like a kettle and I had to pull over and call the RAC to come sort me out.

The guy removed the thermostat and told me to get that replaced 'eventually' but not to worry in 'this weather' (hot at the time).

As our local dealer had one in, we replaced it the next day anyway, but the car overheated once again.

Following another RAC call out, where the guy did the same thing with the thermostat and mentioned the radiator might need flushing through, I noticed that this new thermostat had gone the way of the first one. That is, the thin rod had pulled itself slightly out of it's brass (?) housing, this length no longer fitting in the box it came in.

Anyway, today I had a mechanic look at it. I mentioned that the engine had been causing the car to rock when idle (which it had started doing strangely not long after the car's 40k service with Skoda!). After a lot of heating up, the engine overheated and he's come to the conclusion that the head gasket has gone on the engine.

In people's experience and inexperienced opinions, is this the likely cause to my woes? Is there anything else it could be? Why did neither RAC man mention this posibility?

Any help, as always, is appreciated...

Dunc (who's Fun Club covers arrived today and wanted to go enjoy his Fun asap!)

If this is the 1.6 VW engine it is very likely that the black plastic thermostat housing (the part that the hose connects to) has failed rather than the thermostat. The plastic moulding breaks where the steel pin pushes against and makes the thermostat inoperative, keeping it permanently closed and causing overheating.

They are about £10 to purchase from dealer.

Hope this helps.

Spot on sir, happened to mine.

And the 1.6's allways wobble on idle, can be helped by replacing the bottom stabiliser bush.

Cheers guys!

Straight after posting, I spoke to Skoda and their guy their said he'd never replaced a head gasket on a 1.6 and he'd never replaced a head gasket for a cooling problem!

Have ordered the housing for Tuesday, so shouldn't be toooo long til I can drive it again!

Will update next week... Thanks guys!

Happened to mine about this time last year - caused a lot of overheating but fortunately didn't seem to cause any other damage. At the time though it sounded like the engine was going to explode!

Exactly the same scenario..the recovery guy (Green Flag) removed thermostat and advised replacement. Although he didn't diagnose the housing failure I remember he did give a puzzled look when he had to pull the pin out the housing where it had pushed through and jammed!

Could you please post the part number of the housing when it is replaced. TY.

032 121 111 N -

It was the connecting socket that failed on mine.

You can buy the individual bit. But as the sensor is £25 on its own and quite prone to failure it makes sense to get the whole lot and fit it once.

Thanks, Ross. Is it a straightforward DIY job? Having had a quick look, there seems to be quite a few pipes and clips involved.

Therre are a few pipes to take off but it isnt complicated. The cooling system self bleeds just fine.

The indicated temerature on my 1.6GLXi is very slow to rise but the heater delivers plenty of hot air early on and there are no signs that the ECU is getting incorrect temperature information. I might try using VAG-COM to see what temperatures are being logged before changing the housing. (BigK did this a while ago to the car using a 1551/2 to diagnose a failed temperature sensor which caused havoc with cold starting).

My S reg Fun 's water pump broke at 69k miles, no other damage, but according to service paperwork, has has water cooling problems in the past.

My brothers new 1.6GLXi takes a while to warm, but is ok once warm. The heater seems to get hot very quickly in comparison to the gauge position.