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

Aidan Hickman

Aidan Hickman

Aidan Hickman

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Joined
17 Jan 2019
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28
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.
 
rodenal said:
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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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.
 
Phil W said:
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.
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Yes i put the renault 5 one in the hose its just had a new belt not worth taking off yet
 
Armageus said:
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).
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I’ll try this tomorrow, thank you
 
Swifty55 said:
That is ridiculous.

I had my Golf GTI thermostat changed and that was connected to the cam belt right at the bottom of the engine.

I got it done for £120 incl part. Think you need to try another garage.

Try the OBD reader as suggested.

Also. Did you drill a hole in the thermostat?

I’m assuming you followed a guide online?
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Swifty55 said:
That is ridiculous.

I had my Golf GTI thermostat changed and that was connected to the cam belt right at the bottom of the engine.

I got it done for £120 incl part. Think you need to try another garage.

Try the OBD reader as suggested.

Also. Did you drill a hole in the thermostat?

I’m assuming you followed a guide online?
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Yes I drilled a 2mm hole in the thermostat, I’ll try a different garage as well but don’t suspect it to be the thermostat anymore.
 
The car does have a few mods however I don’t see these causing an issue to the temp. It’s got a performance exhaust header, middle box delete, lowered and alloys obviously none of this should affect the temp but always good to make sure.
 
Nasher said:
Changing the exhaust header/manifold usually need a retune. But I doubt a 1.6 Astra is reaching the limits of it's stock header tbh so probably best to go back to stock and retest it.
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Bought the car like it no idea what it’s had done apart from what they told me

EDIT: I’ll go to a scrap yard and pick one up next week probably see if there’s a change. Any ideas if this could cause it to run rough too? Because if I give it a bit of pressure it starts running rough and then to stop it I need to turn it off and on again.
 
Swifty55 said:
Just to recap.

So you’ve added a new thermostat and replaced the temp sensor?

Does the gauge reach correct temps at a standstill and still drop when driving?

Have you tried OBD reader yet to see what actual temp the water is running at when the car has heated up?
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Yep replaced all that and yes it will heat up at idle but as soon as I go 30mph it drops to just above the cold line. My OBD scanner doesn’t report temps so I’m going to have to buy a new one and wait for that to be delivered. It’s not losing coolant, oil or any other fluids. I have realised that it heats up much quicker since replacing the sensor but don’t know How that’s useful.
 
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