It is the things that cause faff,that Cost me excessive amounts of cash ;o)
I have assumed that it is the thermostat,naturally anything and everything
with temperature led me to conclude this diagnosis.
I am so glad that I asked before I went in and made adjustments.
The tale to date is late last year(August) I managed to bugger my head
gasket,I spent an horrendous amount of money having it towed in to an RAC
approved garage,where upon my arrival,the mechanic/manager was delighted to
see that christmas had arrived early and confidently told me what was
required,backing up this explanation of masses of pictures showing rotation
of serpentine belts and bent valve push rods.
This bought floods of sweat and panic upon me as within the same fortnight,I
was due to expedite the south west with caravan,dog,wife & kids.
Not being a mechanic,and having friends who are not mechanically minded,I
felt assured and clued up in the knowledge that all was well,and agreed the
repairs to be undertaken and accepted the bill was not as much as facing
exile from my family,even my dog would have ignored me forever,had the
holiday been ruined.
My disco was repaired and all seemed to be fine,bill paid and on our way we
went.
4 Days into my annual,my cambelt gave up and through a relay service we were
dispatched back home and into the garage that repaired the head gasket,with
a complaint & enquirey why they did not replace the cambelt at the same time
as the head gasket,to which I was told there was no need because the
300series Tdi had an 'internal routing'??? so I agreed again to pay for the
repair of cambelt.and was allowed to return back to my annuals allover
again.
Things appeared to be fine and life returned back to normal in no time at
all.
Now as I only ever make small trips throughout the week and never have much
need to go on trips that exceed 40mph,I have never really noticed the
temperature.
As the weather decidely got much cooler,naturally the tendancy is to operate
the heating and get all cosy on nippy mornings,this is where I was aware of
the temperature guage not working effectivly and there have been periods
where the needle has gone off the scale,then dropped back to midway between
cold and hot,but no heating at all making its way into the vehicle.
After asking different people,each of them have concluded that it would be
my thermostat and is a relativly simple thing to change.
I am not in a financial/trusting position to take back to Garage,as I left
there smouldering after debating the cambelt/head gasket issue at great
length,Where I feel they could have advised me from the first visit the full
cost and repair work required.
My loss was there gain!
Thanks for the fast responses,I look forwards again to further replies.
"Richard Brookman" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
> ...and D@H spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...
>
>
>> I'm about to change a thermostat for the first time on my 95 disco,I
>> have been experiencing irregular fluctuations on my temperature
>> guage,having temperatures off the scale and at the same time no hot
>> air when I put the heaters on.
>
> What makes you think it's the thermostat? If these fail, it's usually
> either open (engine slow to warm up) or closed (engine overheats). I've
> never heard of one failing intermittently, and your symptoms seem
> variable. Irregular temperatures and blowing cool air sound very much like
> either a drastically low water level or air locks in the system. Neither
> will be affected by changing the thermostat.
>
> Overheating a 300Tdi can wreck it very quickly - I would seek someone
> experienced to examine the problem and advise you what to do.
>
> As Pieter says, changing the stat is pretty simple. Make sure you have a
> new gasket to put it all back together, and take care undoing the bolts
> that hold it on. They have a habit of seizing, and if you snap one off
> it's no end of a faff getting it out. If they are reluctant to come out,
> use plenty of penetrating fluid and try it the next day.
>
> --
> Rich
> ==============================
>
> There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary
> and those who don't.
>
