Another faulty thermostat??!!

[pedro3178]

Hi all,

I recently bought a mini and had some work done it one of which was the thermostat changed as this was faulty which was thanks to mab01uk for assisting me with that!

After this was changed a few weeks ago my temp gauge read normal and would go straight to half way once engine was warm which doesn't take long and heating was working perfect!

Now after a few weeks I noticed today my gauge taking some time to get to half way and also when stopping car and popping into shops for 5 min and switch engine on the temp gauge has dropped to 1/4, strange thing is heating seems ok , drove tonight for 20min and temp gauge didn't get to Half way until I stopped home and let it idle. This is just so similar to last fault apart from heating working ok.

Is this just bad luck? Is something causing the part to fail?

Thanks for any advice!

Peter

[pedro3178]

Think i know the problem , my car first had coolant problems because some complete idiot put the wrong fluid into the car! ( before i owned it ) So my mechanic flushed the system and also the thermostat was changed, he did say that he might not have gotten all the contaminant but at the moment it seemed ok, last night when i opened the rad fill cap and shined in a torch there was an oily like film on the top ( not coloured ) you can't see it unless you shine a torch on it, so i assume some contaminant is still in the system and is now affecting the new thermostat! i must admit its no were near as bad as it was but it may get worse.

So what now? leave it and see or once again have the whole system drained and another thermostat fitted!

[mab01uk]

I would consult your garage for advice again............a difficult problem as until it is all flushed out the oil contaminant will probably damage/jam up any new thermostat.

[pedro3178]

Hi ,

Thanks mab01uk for advice, am I ok to just keep an eye on it just now? The car is 100% not over heating, I just wouldn't want to cause any damage by continuing to use the car.

Thanks