Help with my new car - Vauxhall Astra 1.6 8v Club 2004

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I bought this car about a month ago for a decent price and it has a few issues, one of these issues being it doesn't heat up, i have tried replacing the thermostat and CTS but the temp now only goes as high as the first 2 lines, in the cold area, when the car is static i've seen it go as high as the 90 mark however as soon as i get to driving it goes straight back down.

I don't suppose anyone has any ideas on how to fix this. I wouldn't normally buy a broken car however its really clean with only 72000 miles on the clock so i didn't want to let a steal like that pass.

Really appreciate any help.
Thank You.
 
Do you get consistent heat through the vents?

Also how much real world variance in temperature are we talking? I take it you aren't just seeing a proper temperature readings instead of the adjusted gauges most cars use, any other signs that it isn't running correctly?

For the relative low cost you could change the coolant sensor, but given the temps rise when stationary and assuming the car doesn't seem to be running rich constantly it would pretty much be the start of random part swapping.
 
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Do you get consistent heat through the vents?

Also how much real world variance in temperature are we talking? I take it you aren't just seeing a proper temperature readings instead of the adjusted gauges most cars use, any other signs that it isn't running correctly?

For the relative low cost you could change the coolant sensor, but given the temps rise when stationary and assuming the car doesn't seem to be running rich constantly it would pretty much be the start of random part swapping.
Changed the temp sensor today but its just making it sit slightly higher in the cold definately not operating temp. It was rather cold outside today with a high temp of 5c however i don't think this should be affecting the car so much.
 
The 1.6 8v requires the cambelt to be removed to change the thermostat, have you done this then?

When we owned the same car/engine ours went and a commonly chosen option was to fit a Renault 5 thermostat in the coolant hose, have a Google and you will see this is the cheaper/favourable option. We ended up having a new belt etc fitted but a friend tried it on his car and it worked really well.
 
The 1.6 8v requires the cambelt to be removed to change the thermostat, have you done this then?

When we owned the same car/engine ours went and a commonly chosen option was to fit a Renault 5 thermostat in the coolant hoae, have a Google and you will see this is the cheaper/favourable option.
Yes i put the renault 5 one in the hose its just had a new belt not worth taking off yet
 
Yes i put the renault 5 one in the hose its just had a new belt not worth taking off yet
So you’ve fitted a different stat, an understandable bodge given the need to remove the timing belt...

I can not afford the silly money quoted to replace the original thermostat on my car, and I do not feel comfortable messing with timing.
But the original thermostat is still in situ?

Unless I’m missing something this most likely is why it’s not warming up, the original stats failed, no?
 
But the original thermostat is still in situ?

Unless I’m missing something this most likely is why it’s not warming up, the original stats failed, no?

Presumably it's failed open, in which case it shouldn't be an issue, hence the 2nd Thermostat being a viable fix for these engines (having had a quick google of it).

I have no idea however whether it's possible for a thermostat to fail partially open though, which presumably would not work as expected with this fix.


Might be worth getting an OBD reader and actually checking the coolant temperature that way - it should avoid any "gauge damping" (i.e. it being smack on 90C to make it look nice).
 
Presumably it's failed open, in which case it shouldn't be an issue, hence the 2nd Thermostat being a viable fix for these engines (having had a quick google of it).

I have no idea however whether it's possible for a thermostat to fail partially open though, which presumably would not work as expected with this fix.


Might be worth getting an OBD reader and actually checking the coolant temperature that way - it should avoid any "gauge damping" (i.e. it being smack on 90C to make it look nice).
I’ll try this tomorrow, thank you
 
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