Thermostat
 

I completely forgot to ask them to change the thermostat at my last service.
The temp gauge sits around or below 70 and should be at 90. In the recent
cold weather, it has hardly gone over 65 and it takes about 20 minutes
before proper hot air comes through to the cabin. Its always been low, but
it seems to be getting worse. The GT I had last month was warm within a few
minutes and blowing hot air at me after about 3 miles!



Mine's a 2002, 156 Petrol 2.0 JTS. Anyone know where the thermostat is and
how easy the job is? Should I even consider changing it myself? I'm
proficient with the spanner and screwdriver, but I won't go near anything
critical - ie: if its in there with the timing belt and pump etc, then I'm
not going there! If it is inline with the cooling pipes and radiator, then I'll
consider it.



Advice, support / discouragement welcome!



GT



PS. My intermittent 'splutter' under load at lowish revs is back again too!
Might try some redex, but it didn't really help last time.

Thermostat
 

In alt.autos.alfa-romeo,
GT > wrote:
>
> Mine's a 2002, 156 Petrol 2.0 JTS. Anyone know where the thermostat is and
> how easy the job is? Should I even consider changing it myself? I'm
> proficient with the spanner and screwdriver, but I won't go near anything
> critical - ie: if its in there with the timing belt and pump etc, then I'm
> not going there! If it is inline with the cooling pipes and radiator, then I'll
> consider it.

Thermostat is on the side of the cylinderhead. Not very hard to change,
remove air intake tube to get access. And don't forget to drain the
coolant first!

See: http://i56.tinypic.com/51a39w.png

"1" is the thermostat and "2" is the o-ring that should come with it.

--
Stef (remove caps, dashes and .invalid from e-mail address to reply by mail)

Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good,
you'll have to ram them down people's throats.
-- Howard Aiken

Thermostat
 

On 18/11/2010 10:46, GT wrote:
> I completely forgot to ask them to change the thermostat at my last service.
> The temp gauge sits around or below 70 and should be at 90. In the recent
> cold weather, it has hardly gone over 65 and it takes about 20 minutes
> before proper hot air comes through to the cabin. Its always been low, but
> it seems to be getting worse. The GT I had last month was warm within a few
> minutes and blowing hot air at me after about 3 miles!

Pah. Get one with a proper engine, they take forever to warm up ;)

>
>
>
> Mine's a 2002, 156 Petrol 2.0 JTS. Anyone know where the thermostat is and
> how easy the job is? Should I even consider changing it myself? I'm
> proficient with the spanner and screwdriver, but I won't go near anything
> critical - ie: if its in there with the timing belt and pump etc, then I'm
> not going there! If it is inline with the cooling pipes and radiator, then I'll
> consider it.

Don't know on the JTS, I'm afraid. On the old single sparks, it was dead
easy.



>
>
>
> Advice, support / discouragement welcome!
>
>
>
> GT
>
>
>
> PS. My intermittent 'splutter' under load at lowish revs is back again too!
> Might try some redex, but it didn't really help last time.
>
>


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

Thermostat
 

"GT" > wrote in message
eb.com...
>I completely forgot to ask them to change the thermostat at my last
>service. The temp gauge sits around or below 70 and should be at 90. In the
>recent cold weather, it has hardly gone over 65 and it takes about 20
>minutes before proper hot air comes through to the cabin. Its always been
>low, but it seems to be getting worse. The GT I had last month was warm
>within a few minutes and blowing hot air at me after about 3 miles!
>
> Mine's a 2002, 156 Petrol 2.0 JTS. Anyone know where the thermostat is and
> how easy the job is? Should I even consider changing it myself? I'm
> proficient with the spanner and screwdriver, but I won't go near anything
> critical - ie: if its in there with the timing belt and pump etc, then I'm
> not going there! If it is inline with the cooling pipes and radiator, then
> I'll consider it.

In fact, is there an easy way of confirming that the thermostat is shot?

Thermostat
 

On 19/11/2010 11:33, GT wrote:
> > wrote in message
> eb.com...
>> I completely forgot to ask them to change the thermostat at my last
>> service. The temp gauge sits around or below 70 and should be at 90. In the
>> recent cold weather, it has hardly gone over 65 and it takes about 20
>> minutes before proper hot air comes through to the cabin. Its always been
>> low, but it seems to be getting worse. The GT I had last month was warm
>> within a few minutes and blowing hot air at me after about 3 miles!
>>
>> Mine's a 2002, 156 Petrol 2.0 JTS. Anyone know where the thermostat is and
>> how easy the job is? Should I even consider changing it myself? I'm
>> proficient with the spanner and screwdriver, but I won't go near anything
>> critical - ie: if its in there with the timing belt and pump etc, then I'm
>> not going there! If it is inline with the cooling pipes and radiator, then
>> I'll consider it.
>
> In fact, is there an easy way of confirming that the thermostat is shot?
>
>

Well your symptoms certainly match.

You can feel the hoses as your car warms up. The outlet hose should get
warm quite suddenly as the stat opens.

The only sure fire way is to remove and test in hot water though...


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

Thermostat
 

On Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:33:45 -0000, "GT" > wrote:

>In fact, is there an easy way of confirming that the thermostat is shot?

IME, Alfa stats aren't strong. This, allied with your classic fault
symptom description makes it a no-brainer. Just change it and don't
waste any further time on it..winter is coming!

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather (sold)
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email must have the word 'Alfa' in the
subject line to get through auto-filtering)

Thermostat
 

"catman" > wrote in message
...
> On 19/11/2010 11:33, GT wrote:
>> > wrote in message
>> eb.com...
>>> I completely forgot to ask them to change the thermostat at my last
>>> service. The temp gauge sits around or below 70 and should be at 90. In
>>> the
>>> recent cold weather, it has hardly gone over 65 and it takes about 20
>>> minutes before proper hot air comes through to the cabin. Its always
>>> been
>>> low, but it seems to be getting worse. The GT I had last month was warm
>>> within a few minutes and blowing hot air at me after about 3 miles!
>>>
>>> Mine's a 2002, 156 Petrol 2.0 JTS. Anyone know where the thermostat is
>>> and
>>> how easy the job is? Should I even consider changing it myself? I'm
>>> proficient with the spanner and screwdriver, but I won't go near
>>> anything
>>> critical - ie: if its in there with the timing belt and pump etc, then
>>> I'm
>>> not going there! If it is inline with the cooling pipes and radiator,
>>> then
>>> I'll consider it.
>>
>> In fact, is there an easy way of confirming that the thermostat is shot?
>>
>>
>
> Well your symptoms certainly match.
>
> You can feel the hoses as your car warms up. The outlet hose should get
> warm quite suddenly as the stat opens.
>
> The only sure fire way is to remove and test in hot water though...


My JTD m is doing the same, always has done, but the temp goes up if I give
it a good thrash.
If it's anything like the Landi diesel ( I know it isn't! ) they always ran
cool too.
The Alfa may have been designed to run in the high temperatures of Milan
with
heavy right footed Italian drivers round town so I'm not
surprised really. My heating is quite quick to cut in though, blowing warm
within a mile or two.

Is yours petrol GT?

TonyB

Thermostat
 

On 21/11/2010 17:59, TonyB wrote:
>
> "catman" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On 19/11/2010 11:33, GT wrote:
>>> > wrote in message
>>> eb.com...
>>>> I completely forgot to ask them to change the thermostat at my last
>>>> service. The temp gauge sits around or below 70 and should be at 90.
>>>> In the
>>>> recent cold weather, it has hardly gone over 65 and it takes about 20
>>>> minutes before proper hot air comes through to the cabin. Its always
>>>> been
>>>> low, but it seems to be getting worse. The GT I had last month was warm
>>>> within a few minutes and blowing hot air at me after about 3 miles!
>>>>
>>>> Mine's a 2002, 156 Petrol 2.0 JTS. Anyone know where the thermostat
>>>> is and
>>>> how easy the job is? Should I even consider changing it myself? I'm
>>>> proficient with the spanner and screwdriver, but I won't go near
>>>> anything
>>>> critical - ie: if its in there with the timing belt and pump etc,
>>>> then I'm
>>>> not going there! If it is inline with the cooling pipes and
>>>> radiator, then
>>>> I'll consider it.
>>>
>>> In fact, is there an easy way of confirming that the thermostat is shot?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Well your symptoms certainly match.
>>
>> You can feel the hoses as your car warms up. The outlet hose should
>> get warm quite suddenly as the stat opens.
>>
>> The only sure fire way is to remove and test in hot water though...
>
>
> My JTD m is doing the same, always has done, but the temp goes up if I
> give it a good thrash.
> If it's anything like the Landi diesel ( I know it isn't! ) they always
> ran cool too.
> The Alfa may have been designed to run in the high temperatures of Milan
> with
> heavy right footed Italian drivers round town so I'm not
> surprised really. My heating is quite quick to cut in though, blowing
> warm within a mile or two.
>
> Is yours petrol GT?
>

It is. But it's a big old lump. When it gets up to temperature, it stays
there.


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

Thermostat
 

"TonyB" > wrote in message
...
>
> "catman" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On 19/11/2010 11:33, GT wrote:
>>> > wrote in message
>>> eb.com...
>>>> I completely forgot to ask them to change the thermostat at my last
>>>> service. The temp gauge sits around or below 70 and should be at 90. In
>>>> the
>>>> recent cold weather, it has hardly gone over 65 and it takes about 20
>>>> minutes before proper hot air comes through to the cabin. Its always
>>>> been
>>>> low, but it seems to be getting worse. The GT I had last month was warm
>>>> within a few minutes and blowing hot air at me after about 3 miles!
>>>>
>>>> Mine's a 2002, 156 Petrol 2.0 JTS. Anyone know where the thermostat is
>>>> and
>>>> how easy the job is? Should I even consider changing it myself? I'm
>>>> proficient with the spanner and screwdriver, but I won't go near
>>>> anything
>>>> critical - ie: if its in there with the timing belt and pump etc, then
>>>> I'm
>>>> not going there! If it is inline with the cooling pipes and radiator,
>>>> then
>>>> I'll consider it.
>>>
>>> In fact, is there an easy way of confirming that the thermostat is shot?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Well your symptoms certainly match.
>>
>> You can feel the hoses as your car warms up. The outlet hose should get
>> warm quite suddenly as the stat opens.
>>
>> The only sure fire way is to remove and test in hot water though...
>
>
> My JTD m is doing the same, always has done, but the temp goes up if I
> give it a good thrash.
> If it's anything like the Landi diesel ( I know it isn't! ) they always
> ran cool too.
> The Alfa may have been designed to run in the high temperatures of Milan
> with
> heavy right footed Italian drivers round town so I'm not
> surprised really. My heating is quite quick to cut in though, blowing warm
> within a mile or two.
>
> Is yours petrol GT?

Petrol, yes - 2.0 JTS.

Thermostat
 

"GT" > wrote in message
eb.com...
>I completely forgot to ask them to change the thermostat at my last
>service. The temp gauge sits around or below 70 and should be at 90. In the
>recent cold weather, it has hardly gone over 65 and it takes about 20
>minutes before proper hot air comes through to the cabin. Its always been
>low, but it seems to be getting worse. The GT I had last month was warm
>within a few minutes and blowing hot air at me after about 3 miles!
>
>
>
> Mine's a 2002, 156 Petrol 2.0 JTS. Anyone know where the thermostat is and
> how easy the job is? Should I even consider changing it myself?

One more thing - coolant. Drain and replace completely? Replace with
water/coolant mixture or pure coolant? Red or Blue? Halfords own cheap, or
expensive stuff? ...