Hi guys it been awhile,

I received the replacement con rod just before Christmas and proceed to fit it Christmas Eve while I was off and nobody else was around 🤷🏼‍♂️. I then as what is becoming the norm got ill for Xmas day but over the last couple of days I’ve managed to get into the garage again. So over the last 2 days I’ve managed to get it all back together with only 2 issues, the thermostat housing has a stripped thread and the distributor has a rounded off fixing.

This evening I started the car for the first time and it started sweeeet. There are a few issues to address but overall I’m well pleased!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 🥳

Happy New Year and a speedy recovery. For the plastic housing, use a larger diameter thread-forming screw for plastic. For the aluminum use either a helicoil or a tap and a larger bolt

3 hours ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

Happy New Year and a speedy recovery. For the plastic housing, use a larger diameter thread-forming screw for plastic. For the aluminum use either a helicoil or a tap and a larger bolt

For the purpose of getting it tested I’ve used blue sealant to hold the water in but long term I’ve ordered a replacement plastic housing.

Well done and thanks for reporting back. Sod's Law about being ill on Xmas Day.

2 hours ago, Rsedmonds said:

I’ve ordered a replacement plastic housing.

I've no idea about this part but generally be careful of who/where you order from but even good parts suppliers stock crap, p1ss-poor parts as regardless of the trusted parts manufacturers' label on the box or bag the part could be from the same actual manufacturer source. When you get the new part thoroughly inspect it for quality and fit, before fitting it and don't throw away the existing part until after many successful months of use of the new part in case you have to swap the old part back on the car. The chaps here will know about specific new parts quality.

Good luck.

Not for the current things but other stuff, I don't know if you've seen the following or if the bits are still about but used factory can often be better than some new made parts new. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/535958-felicia-pickup-spares-or-repair-offers-please/#comment-5977371

2 hours ago, nta16 said:

Not for the current things but other stuff, I don't know if you've seen the following or if the bits are still about but used factory can often be better than some new made parts new. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/535958-felicia-pickup-spares-or-repair-offers-please/#comment-5977371

LOL,

That’s the one I’m trying to bring back to life…

Hi,

I don’t think all’s gone according to plan which has left me scratching my head. I can’t get any heat to the heater matrix no matter what I try.

What I do know is:-

1. The engine still overheats after 5 minutes of running (well the fan kicks in)

2. There’s not much if any pressure in the system when hot (new water pump fitted).

3. The radiator pipes get hot hot but there’s no heat in the heater matrix pipes even after trying to back filling.

4. I’ve run water in/out of the matrix an all seems fine.

5. I’ve only filled the system with water just to test for leaks more than anything else.

6. There seems to be a lot of water dripping from the exhaust with only a little white smoke/steam.

7. I’ve not measured water loss as I’ve been taking pipes off and on.

8. Overall the engine runs well, at least I think so 😞

1 hour ago, Rsedmonds said:

1. The engine still overheats after 5 minutes of running (well the fan kicks in)

2. There’s not much if any pressure in the system when hot (new water pump fitted).

3. The radiator pipes get hot hot but there’s no heat in the heater matrix pipes even after trying to back filling.

4. I’ve run water in/out of the matrix an all seems fine.

5. I’ve only filled the system with water just to test for leaks more than anything else.

6. There seems to be a lot of water dripping from the exhaust with only a little white smoke/steam.

7. I’ve not measured water loss as I’ve been taking pipes off and on.

8. Overall the engine runs well, at least I think so 😞

I am no expert on 1.6 but, VCDS can give you a good idea of actual temps.

Again, I will point you to my beloved BTB test haha, to see if maybe there is some crack in the head, who knows if it were a hydrolock situation.

The heater matrix takes time to bleed and establish coolant flow you need revs quite a lot of them for a sustained period of time.

I would start with a BTB test to see if its worth proceeding then VCDS to monitor temps then or in conjunction with bleeding the heater matrix.

I don't think there is any issue with the engine, water from the exhaust means 2 things: firstly, your cat is meowing (oh wrong sentence) I meant your cat is HEALTHY, and secondly, the car is quite rich. So if no failure is noted then you can take it as a note of running rich which means you need to work a bit on fueling, cleaning the injectors with your ultrasonic cleaner is a piece of cake for you. You can monitor the lambda with VCDS and either clean it or replace it.

8 minutes ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

I am no expert on 1.6 but, VCDS can give you a good idea of actual temps.

Again, I will point you to my beloved BTB test haha, to see if maybe there is some crack in the head, who knows if it were a hydrolock situation.

The heater matrix takes time to bleed and establish coolant flow you need revs quite a lot of them for a sustained period of time.

I would start with a BTB test to see if its worth proceeding then VCDS to monitor temps then or in conjunction with bleeding the heater matrix.

I don't think there is any issue with the engine, water from the exhaust means 2 things: firstly, your cat is meowing (oh wrong sentence) I meant your cat is HEALTHY, and secondly, the car is quite rich. So if no failure is noted then you can take it as a note of running rich which means you need to work a bit on fueling, cleaning the injectors with your ultrasonic cleaner is a piece of cake for you. You can monitor the lambda with VCDS and either clean it or replace it.

I haven’t seen or used VCDS for the best part of 15yrs, when my son got his first golf but I’ll still have it somewhere.

I’ll give the BTB test a go, I have it in the garage and it should (🤞) hopefully give me some reassurance.

It’s also reassuring that the heater matrix takes time, never owning one before or ever seeing this car on the road I have no idea how it reacts. So I’ll continue trying to get the air out a little longer.

Thank you for the kind words reference the water. My thoughts were that it was leaving the coolant system and being pump by the engine down and out of the exhaust.

I haven’t tried timing the car other than a rotating the distributor to stop the engine from hunting so I’ll look at getting that better aligned.

The head was pressure tested when I had it skimmed.

Regards

Edited 1 January1 Jan by Rsedmonds

I’m a bit suspicious of the coolant pipe layout from the thermostat housing on the AEE engine. Which outlet is to the top heater matrix and which outlet goes to the top radiator connection.

Does anyone have a layout of where each outlet should be connected?

It’s probably just my paranoia but I’m questioning everything at the moment.

Regards Rob

7 hours ago, Rsedmonds said:

I’m a bit suspicious of the coolant pipe layout from the thermostat housing on the AEE engine. Which outlet is to the top heater matrix and which outlet goes to the top radiator connection.

Does anyone have a layout of where each outlet should be connected?

It’s probably just my paranoia but I’m questioning everything at the moment.

Just so you know, radiators are connected in a reverse thermosyphonic flow, so hot coolant enters from the top and exits from the bottom. As this increases efficiency, the inlet should be connected to the thermostat, and the outlet to the pump.

17 hours ago, Rsedmonds said:

LOL,

That’s the one I’m trying to bring back to life…

😄 Small world.

I've no idea about how the heater matrix is plumbed in but if it is possible to bypass the heater matrix this will take it out of the checking the rest of the system and getting a false result because of any heater matrix issue at this time.

On my 1973 MG Midget the heater tap (off the top of the cylinder head) went into the bottom connection of the heater matrix which made me think of the radiator to remember to put it on the bottom and not the top.

With the block tester / sniffer test do bear in mind the possibility of false negative. For outlets if both are the same size you might need to look at internal routing or consider how the AEE cooling plumbing relates to what's in the Felicia pick-up and possible variations of cylinder head, thermostat housings, perhaps there might be some info in the 'Classic SKODA Projects' or other model Projects forums on here or if you know what model your AEE came out of diagrams from that if it uses the same thermostat housing.

18 hours ago, Rsedmonds said:

The engine still overheats after 5 minutes of running (well the fan kicks in)

What do you mean by overheating? Felicia has quite primitive fan switch and thermometer layout, so indicated temperature can raise quite a lot before the fan kicks in.

17 hours ago, Rsedmonds said:

I’m a bit suspicious of the coolant pipe layout from the thermostat housing on the AEE engine. Which outlet is to the top heater matrix and which outlet goes to the top radiator connection.

Does anyone have a layout of where each outlet should be connected?

19 is to the radiator, 20 is return, 6 to the heater, 9 is return. 7 goes to the expansion tank.

27 minutes ago, Papez said:

19 is to the radiator, 20 is return, 6 to the heater, 9 is return. 7 goes to the expansion tank.

I only noticed 19 and 20 being mixed up but yeah you are right 9 and 7 were also

Thanks for the layout picture, they explain it perfectly.

I paint marked the pipes when I removed them and put them back how they were removed but this could explain why the car previously overheated and the owner said the heater was useless.

Looking at the picture above the smaller outlet goes to the header tank when I have it going to the bottom heater matrix pipe.

I do however have to confess, I marked my picture wrong for the radiator and it is connected as you suggest.

2 hours ago, Papez said:

What do you mean by overheating? Felicia has quite primitive fan switch and thermometer layout, so indicated temperature can raise quite a lot before the fan kicks in.

I’ve just replaced the cylinder head gasket so I’m probably just a little bit more wary of the car overheating.

What happens is I’ll start the car up and leave it ticking over on the drive 🥶. But within 10 minutes it hitting about 100 degrees, the fan kicks in and so does panic. The fan does its job and brings it back down but I’ll shut it off when the fan switches off for fear of damaging the head gasket. My thoughts are that there’s an airlock somewhere as the pipes to the radiator are hot to the touch but the ones going to the heater matrix are still stone cold.

1 minute ago, Rsedmonds said:

But within 10 minutes it hitting about 100 degrees, the fan kicks in and so does panic. The fan does its job and brings it back down but I’ll shut it off when the fan switches off for fear of damaging the head gasket.

That's normal behaviour (at least on 1.3, but 1.6 seems to have the temp sensor near the radiator outlet of the thermostat housing -the hottest part of the circuit - as well). The factory fan switch is set to 95+-3deg. It's also placed near the radiator outlet, so it takes some time before hot water gets to the switch, so you can see quite high temp on the dial.

More modern cars (even many cars made in the time of Felicia) filter the output from the temp sensor, which is why the needle shows no fluctuations. Felicia feeds direct signal from the sensor to the cluster, so you can observe how the cooling actually works.

If you want more stable temps, you need to get fan switch with 5-10deg lower rating. It will result in the fan running more often for shorter periods, which can theoretically lead to more wear of both the fan motor and switch - in practice, I didn't have any issues with this solution.

Edited 2 January2 Jan by Papez

May I add it could be worthwhile to implement my solution with Behr TSW32 or 31 based on your liking

Edited 2 January2 Jan by Thefeliciahacker

That looks a serious piece of kit, probably doubling the value of my truck if I was to fit it.

But never say never, let’s get the pipes fitted correctly and see how the truck reacts to that first.

29 minutes ago, Rsedmonds said:

That looks a serious piece of kit, probably doubling the value of my truck if I was to fit it.

But never say never, let’s get the pipes fitted correctly and see how the truck reacts to that first.

Haha it's not expensive and a dual speed fan will be quiete,r more efficient and redundant

16 hours ago, Rsedmonds said:

and put them back how they were removed but this could explain why the car previously overheated and the owner said the heater was useless.

Another lesson there, never just copy how something is fitted for as you have found it might not be right as with other stuff check and cross reference against at two or three other other reliable sources (bearing mind all information from any source can have errors (particularly me) including from the manufacturers. I have also seen manufacturer's drawings/illustrations being wrong in their own workshop manuals (very annoying).

Also, never think that because a part is fitted and working that it is fitted correctly or working fully or correctly particularly with replacement parts and work done by others even if they were paid professionals (some of those do a worse job than unpaid amateurs).

All shutting the stable door but it sinks in more when you expect it for yourself, especially when you've had a few old cars that have been threw a few hands or modified from factory spec.

One of the things I used to do was clean fully drain and flush (back-flush and second flush with full drains) the whole heating/cooling system and major parts as much as possible, engine block, heater matrix and radiator and then completely (as much as possible) refill with new fresh coolant. Sod's Law will dictate that sometime after doing this something on the system swill need changing so I consider changing those parts before the refill.

I've put my notes on this simple but thorough cleaning on the site before, or I still have the MSWorddoc, but most don't follow them fully but even partially they will get a cleaner system that may work more efficiently and may help to prevent or reduce more serious engine or cooling/heating system issues.

I used to drive my old over-priced and over-valued cars (called "classic") as were designed to be driven when new, with todays advances in stuff they possibly (probably?) went better than when they were new (I wouldn't know for sure as I was either too young or couldn't have afforded the cars at those times).

My wife had a Favorit in the early 1990s and I probably drove it a very few times back then but I can't remember or much details about it (other than the boot light that doubled as a (detachable) chargeable torch and what the British press called a substantial tool kit (it wasn't but it was compared to others at the time) that came in a lunch box type box IRRC.

On 02/01/2026 at 21:47, Rsedmonds said:

That looks a serious piece of kit, probably doubling the value of my truck if I was to fit it.

But never say never, let’s get the pipes fitted correctly and see how the truck reacts to that first.

2-speed FAB for cars without AC is much simpler - here's wiring for 1.9D. The most expensive part is probably the fan resistor.

If you get a thermal switch with higher switching point same as the original switch, it will just work the same as original if the resistor fails or if the lower speed doesn't provide enough cooling. Low speed switch would only provide some air movement after the car stops. The resistor limits current to the motor during spin up, which reduces wear.

29 minutes ago, Papez said:

If you get a thermal switch with higher switching point same as the original switch, it will just work the same as original if the resistor fails or if the lower speed doesn't provide enough cooling. Low speed switch would only provide some air movement after the car stops. The resistor limits current to the motor during spin up, which reduces wear.

Why not fit a 1.3 dual speed fan with the built-in resistor?

The 3wire one, its a more streamlined solution in my opinion

Edited 6 January6 Jan by Thefeliciahacker

3 hours ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

Why not fit a 1.3 dual speed fan with the built-in resistor?

The 3wire one, its a more streamlined solution in my opinion

Simple, I didn't realize the 1.3 had a built-in resistor. 😃

Anyway, looking around, I wasn't able to find any. When I found any listing, it was a mislabeled 2 wire fan for either 1.3 or 1.6 or an unidentified manufacturer.