Thermostat on a 1.4 1999 Ibiza

[sarahbiza]

Hi,
my car overheated today (just as I was coming down my road, luckily).
My husband has looked at it and says that he thinks the thermostat maybe stuck shut. I topped it up with coolant when it had cooled down, and drove it round the block, the temp needle started to rise above the half way point so we stopped and he said that there was no hot water in the pipe coming off the bottom of the radiator and that the water was rising above max in the expansion bottle.

Would this point to a broken thermostat?
There is no oil in the water and no water in the oil so i'm hoping its not the head gasket.

Where would the thermostat be on my little engine?

Sorry to bother you all but I didn't know where else to look

Sarah

 

[m0rk]

Hi Sarah - sounds exactly the same as when my thermostat stuck shut.

I ran it at 50mph in 5th heaters on full blast! Not fun in August!!!

Anyway

You can get to the thermostat easily, although messily since you'll be breaking (not permanently) the coolant pipes

But if you have a haynes manual, it'll make it obvious, if you don't - follow the coolant hoses until you get to a large plastic round unit on the pipe, unscrew it & you can remove the thermostat

I was going to replace mine, in the end to prevent further failures I just left it out - the end result was it took a bit longer to warm up.

If you didn't drive far with the indicator in the red, you will be OK.

 

[Brummy]

as m0rk says its easy enough but can be messy.. once you have the thermostat out, you 'can' test it by tying string to it and immersing it into a pan of boiling water.. if it opens , you know it works.. problem lies elsewhere.. if it doesnt, its obviously duff..
oh, and Welcome to the site, BTW.....

 

[sarahbiza]

Thanks for the replies

The 2 pipes from the radiator run to a black plastic bit bolted to the right hand side of the engine, is the thermostat here?

 

[m0rk]

yes, or near there. not got a pic of my old 1.4 that shows it - but I'll have a look at the 1.6 tomorrow if I cna't find anything before then

 

[Brummy]

quoting Haynes.." it is located in an elbow beneath the coolant pump at the front timing belt end of the engine..."

as a tip.. tyr not to lose the rubber seal/ring inside the piping

 

[m0rk]

Interesting.... most are at the gearbox end of the car where the coolant pipes are.

 

[Brummy]

yeah. thats what i thought?!?!?! ... least mine is/was there when i changed it,.. saying that, my needle never moves... think i best check mine soon..
summers coming

 

[sarahbiza]

My husband took this:

This is the end where the pipes go in to the side of the engine.
The timing belt is the other side

 

[m0rk]

I think.....

 

[sarahbiza]

Cheers for all the help, going to buy a thermostat today and get hubby to have a go at fixing it! Well he does love to get his hands dirty!

 

[jenk]

Mine sticks open from time to time, over cooling instead of getting hot. Got my thermostat but it looks like the power steering pumps gota come off to get to it
Dont no if the 1.4 is the same as the 2.0.

Good luck

 

[andyj]

after doing this on Em's 1.4 about a month ago, m0rk's exactly right where it is

Best place to get the thermostat from is probably a main dealer. I got mine from GSF, but they're not reknowned for the reliability of their parts sometimes!!!

When I did mine, I drained the coolant system out at the same time, meaning it was a far less messy job than just doing it with the coolant still in the system

New coolant is about £5 from GSF for a litre of G12

 

[m0rk]

after doing this on Em's 1.4 about a month ago, m0rk's exactly right where it is

You know it

Did hubby fix it Sarah?

 

[sarahbiza]

Hi, he has bought the thermostat and is going to attempt it today! Might be back later...watch this space!

 

[Brummy]

anything?? or is he still getting his hands dirty?

 

[sarahbiza]

Hubby took the old thermostat out and it fell apart in his hands!

No problems at all with fitting new one, seems to be fine. Drained coolant at the same time and refilled.

Have missed my car last couple of days and cant wait to go for a spin tomorrow!



Thanks for all the help, this site has been a great help!

 

[Brummy]

result... .. hope you enjoy your 'spin'.....

 

[sarahbiza]

result... .. hope you enjoy your 'spin'.....

Am now back behind the wheel and enjoying my ibiza!

 

[andyj]

Good news Sarah