Hi all, can anyone advise me please ?
How difficult is it to replace the thermostat on a facelift 2006 FL 1 TD4.
I can see it is TRICKY to get to but on the face of it there looks to be just 5 torx headed bolts 3 on the housing and 2 connecting to the rear of the head area, I have wondered if there is difficulty removing the thermostat as I have seen others post about it been a big job.
I did message nodge68 direct as most replies come from that quarter but don't seem to have a reply so I am putting it on here, cheers Al.
Hi it is a tricky/ awkward job (I did mine a, 2004 Td4, Nov. last year due to a crap heater & temp. gauge like you say not going past a 1/4 ) mainly due to getting the metal coolent pipe you can see out & back in again as it runs along the back of the engine (as well as from the expansion tank via the short rubber hose). I unbolted mine along it's length just to get a bit more play in it as you just can't lever it out without the risk of bending it (the metal pipe) & as it has an o-ring as a seal it has to go back in square to avoid any leaks (make sure you get a new o-ring before you start).
Once you get that pipe out & have removed the lower rubber hose in the bottom of the housing you can then tackle the 3 torx headed bolts holding the housing on, again very awkward due to lack of clearance between bolts & inner wing as you can only get very small movements with a spanner & seem to lose a layer of skin with every movement !
If you search other threads on here I'm sure there is mention of loosening engine mounts and lowering the engine on a jack (any bit of clearance will help).
It seems it's about a 4-5 hour job if all goes well & depending if you can use a ramp/pit.
Whilst doing mine I discovered it had a FBH (fuel burning heater which aids warm up) which is plumbed into the cooling/heating system, as it wasn't working I removed it, stripped/checked/cleaned it & was amazed how much quicker the engine gets up to temperature with the new t/stat & working FBH. (temp. gauge up to middle within 1.5 miles even on minus temp. days).
I fitted a Borg & Beck thermostat housing, just make sure it's a good quality one, genuine if you can as you won't want to do it again lol.
Best of luck, it's worth it & once your knuckles have recovered, you've stopped swearing & your heater is back to how it should be (hopefully) you'll forget what a pain it is to replace a Td4 thermostat housing, hee hee.
