Hi all! Can anyone point me in the direction of a good thermostat for my '99 Felicia 1.3? I've had all kinds of fun so far. Originally ordered a Valeo, but a Calorstat thermostat came in a Valeo box. Autodoc swore it was the right part. It went in and worked for about a year. Now it's not working so well. I ordered a Febi Bilstein one and a MotoRad thermostat came in a Febi box. Quality doesn't look so great so I tested it and it opens crooked, at 93c. So thats a no go. Anyone know what thermostat is decent quality? I'd go OEM but don't seem to be able to find one.

 

Thanks!!!!

Sorry I can't help with recommending a good make.

 

By the sounds of that I'd order from elsewhere other than Autodoc, perhaps you got returned items (twice).

 

I ordered some febi bilstein sump plugs and the quality was the fabled German engineering quality of the past (last century) but neither are the cars from new, but it was a very reasonable quality and they all came in individual febi marked up bags.

 

 

If the faulty thermostat you got wasn't in a febi plastic bag I might be suspicious but I don't know if febi might call on MotoRad to make that stat for febi, MotRad don't show a stat for a Felicia so perhaps Motorad only make them under contract for febi but I'd be surprised as febi also has the SWAg and Blue Print brands.

 

Have a look here to see if the febi you got looks like the one in there catalogue. - https://partsfinder.bilsteingroup.com/en/index

 

All this assume you got your stats from a genuine Autodoc and Autodoc were sending you genuine parts or perhaps(?) incorrectly boxed returns as I put before, the internet is a strange place and there's lot of fake stuff around.

 

On 24/10/2024 at 22:06, jbedford said:

Anyone know what thermostat is decent quality?

 

Μany companies have been acquired by others nowadays.

Buy a thermostat together with the plastic shell and gasket, for example as this:

 

 

Pay attention to the coolant sensor, keep your old or check the new one because many Yellow ring sensors have to marks on them and that is suspicious.

Avoid at all cost the VIKA.

correction as I've missed edit, I missed a very important word out  - 

On 24/10/2024 at 21:23, nta16 said:

I ordered some febi bilstein sump plugs and the quality was  not  the fabled German engineering quality of the past (last century) but neither are the cars from new, but it was a very reasonable quality and they all came in individual febi marked up bags.

 

I used the "ABAKUS" one from autodoc, and it's still working but, I can see that it's out of stock now.

On 24/10/2024 at 22:06, jbedford said:

Now it's not working so well.

 

Which means?

It opens properly or not?

I had a look at just a few on Ebay and came up with so many brands for a Skoda 1.3 Felicia 1998 like my car what I have and here are just a few bands

 

STALLEX - APEC - A PREMIUM - NAPA - BAXTER and many more

 

these are the complete housing inc thermostat and me thinks they are all come from China I maybe wrong all are around £20 UK pounds what a steel or are they I could do with having a spare one but which one 

 

Sorry jbedford  I can not be of much help to you but they are not a lot of money buy 2 and keep a spare.

Note: you need to check I have correct stat for your vehicle.

 

For 87c have a look here but none really fill me with joy, it shows Febi (17902) and alternatives.  First Line and Borg & Beck are both part of First Line, others I can't remember now. Gates and others may not make their own but I don't know.  You also have to check that the supplier has the correct information for application to vehicle.  I've used Parts in motion before and they are fine to deal with.

 

febi 17902 - https://partsfinder.bilsteingroup.com/en/article/febi/17902

 

Parts in Motion febi 17902 (£10.43 inc. P&P (Royal Mail 2nd Class Tracked)) and alternatives stats - https://www.partsinmotion.co.uk/febi-coolant-thermostat-17902-detail

 

HTH.

Thanks all for the input. I got the Febi but it's a MotoRad Stat in a febi box. Tested it and it opens at 93c so no go. My current stat is not opening until about 95 and then not closing until it gets down to about 85 - verified on the stove so the gauge dances up and down all the time.

 

Ill look into the suggestions. Thanks again!

1 hour ago, jbedford said:

so the gauge dances up and down all the time.

 

Happened to me in the past, the base of the coolant sensor had detritus and this caused an overheat in this area.

Check the pins and the cables, i also had problem there too.

 

 

 

 

 

On 27/10/2024 at 09:57, jbedford said:

Thanks all for the input. I got the Febi but it's a MotoRad Stat in a febi box. Tested it and it opens at 93c so no go. My current stat is not opening until about 95 and then not closing until it gets down to about 85 - verified on the stove so the gauge dances up and down all the time.

 

Ill look into the suggestions. Thanks again!

MotoRad making them for febi on contract might explain why I didn't see MotoRad list a stat for Felicia.

 

You may already know this but in case not, the (nominal) rated temperature of the stat is when it starts to open not when it is fully open, that will be at a higher temperature.  I don't know about your plastic housed stat but older style separate stats MotoRad used to say - [ETA: I couldn't find this now on their website] - that the stat may have a manufacturing tolerance of +/- 3 F (they're American so work in  F not C) and the stat is fully open about 15F-20F degrees above its rated temperature.

 

So working in C with figures rounded to nearest 0.5C, that means say an old 88C stat starts to open at 86C – 89.5C and is fully open at 94.5C – 100.5C allowing for manufacturing tolerances, I hope that makes senses.

 

Now as I put I don't know if the manufacturing tolerance is less for more modern stat, but wax pellets must be similar and the part retails at about £10 so how accurate do they go for that (I don't know). 

 

For previous stat not working so well now, when you installed it did you renew /refresh / replace your coolant at change of thermostat in case any debris contamination caused problems previously and in future?  Could be other things but have a look at this MotoRad video, there are plenty of other videos and info on their website. -

 

 

HTH.

 

Edited 28 October, 20241 yr by nta16
typos and missing word

VEMO uses a circlip 

I have a TOPRAN for 2000 Km only, the previous was Calorstat and lasted about 14000 Km before it is seen a sneaky leak from the gasket.

The fitting also was not as i wanted and i replaced him but certainly i kept the Blue coolant sensor.

On 27/10/2024 at 19:46, nta16 said:

MotoRad making them for febi on contract might explain why I didn't see MotoRad list a stat for Felicia.

 

You may already know this but in case not, the (nominal) rated temperature of the stat is when it starts to open not when it is fully open, that will be at a higher temperature.  I don't know about your plastic housed stat but older style separate stats MotoRad used to say - [ETA: I couldn't find this now on their website] - that the stat may have a manufacturing tolerance of +/- 3 F (they're American so work in  F not C) and the stat is fully open about 15F-20F degrees above its rated temperature.

 

So working in C with figures rounded to nearest 0.5C, that means say an old 88C stat starts to open at 86C – 89.5C and is fully open at 94.5C – 100.5C allowing for manufacturing tolerances, I hope that makes senses.

 

Now as I put I don't know if the manufacturing tolerance is less for more modern stat, but wax pellets must be similar and the part retails at about £10 so how accurate do they go for that (I don't know). 

 

For previous stat not working so well now, when you installed it did you renew /refresh / replace your coolant at change of thermostat in case any debris contamination caused problems previously and in future?  Could be other things but have a look at this MotoRad video, there are plenty of other videos and info on their website. -

 

 

HTH.

 

Thanks for the detailed post. The MotoRad thermostat starts to open at 93, so it's not fully open until about 96/97 which I feel is a bit high, so its going back. I'm going to try a mahle. Failing that I'll just buy calorstat thermostats and replace them yearly. It's the best quality I've found so far. Only thing that bothers me is I put one in my wifes focus and it's definately not a 5 minute replacement like a felicia!!!

 

The cooling system's been completely flushed and new coolant is in there.

On 27/10/2024 at 11:08, D.FYLAKTOS said:

 

Happened to me in the past, the base of the coolant sensor had detritus and this caused an overheat in this area.

Check the pins and the cables, i also had problem there too.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks - I got a good sensor in there and that led me to discover the thermostat acting up.

On 26/10/2024 at 20:53, nta16 said:

Note: you need to check I have correct stat for your vehicle.

 

For 87c have a look here but none really fill me with joy, it shows Febi (17902) and alternatives.  First Line and Borg & Beck are both part of First Line, others I can't remember now. Gates and others may not make their own but I don't know.  You also have to check that the supplier has the correct information for application to vehicle.  I've used Parts in motion before and they are fine to deal with.

 

febi 17902 - https://partsfinder.bilsteingroup.com/en/article/febi/17902

 

Parts in Motion febi 17902 (£10.43 inc. P&P (Royal Mail 2nd Class Tracked)) and alternatives stats - https://www.partsinmotion.co.uk/febi-coolant-thermostat-17902-detail

 

HTH.

Thanks Nigel. I think I'm going to try a Mahle in the Calorstat housing and see how that goes. If thats no good I'll just replace Calorstat yearly.

Behr/Mahle
HEPU
Nissens/NRF
VEMO
dont look anywhere else
calorstat and vernet are crap

topran is something worse than crap

Edited 29 October, 20241 yr by Thefeliciahacker

1 hour ago, jbedford said:

 The MotoRad thermostat starts to open at 93, so it's not fully open until about 96/97 which I feel is a bit high, 

 

Those are indications from the factory cluster gauge?

1 hour ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

 

Those are indications from the factory cluster gauge?

No, from a known accurate thermometer on the stove. 

1 hour ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

Behr/Mahle
HEPU
Nissens/NRF
VEMO
dont look anywhere else
calorstat and vernet are crap

topran is something worse than crap

Thanks - I appreciate it. I'm putting a Mahle in it and hopefully that will solve my woes.

3 hours ago, jbedford said:

The MotoRad thermostat starts to open at 93, so it's not fully open until about 96/97

What is the stated (nominal) (opening) temperature of the "febi! / MotoRad stat?

 

8 minutes ago, nta16 said:

What is the stated (nominal) (opening) temperature of the "febi! / MotoRad stat?

 

89 Celsius.

So outside the parameter of manufacturing tolerance they (at some time) stated on their website.  Did you test the previous "febi" / MotoRad that might have started to open at 87 or 86.

53 minutes ago, nta16 said:

might have started to open at 87 or 86.

 

Much preferable.

1 hour ago, nta16 said:

So outside the parameter of manufacturing tolerance they (at some time) stated on their website.  Did you test the previous "febi" / MotoRad that might have started to open at 87 or 86.

The previous thermostat was Calorstat (still in the car) and that originally (about a year ago) worked exactly to specification (started to open at 88, fully open at about 96). Now it starts to open at about 95 and doesn't close unless you reduce the temperature to about 83. Never seen one do that myself but have read about it on a couple of other forums. 

1 hour ago, jbedford said:

Now it starts to open at about 95 and doesn't close unless you reduce the temperature to about 83. Never seen one do that myself but have read about it on a couple of other forums. 

Makes sense if there's a restriction to the opening then it could well affect the operation in the other direction.  It's the progress of making things as cheap as possible, for car manufacturers the part may only have to last as any warranty / guarantee of the car, for the parts manufacturer the part only has to last as long as their warranty, if they have to replace the part under warranty often it's no issue as they are  made so cheap they can allow for many returns, no problem.  For the installer it's a different matter for the sake of a £10 part it could involve a lot of time and effort.  Might be my rose tinted glasses but things like (metal) pressure  rad caps and thermostats would last many years into decade(s). but proportionately would have cost more to buy.  The throw-away society.