Anyone here had a thermostat pack in on them while driving?

[matth76 0]

Hi

Today was driving down the dual carriageway and my engine water temp hit max and some steam was coming from the bonnet. Pulled into a layby straight away. I opened the bonnet and there was no water in the antifreeze tank. There was a strange metal grating noise too if I tried to move the car a foot or two. No noise at all if I revved the engine a bit while stationary. The oil temp had risen to 118c which I was told by the Phirm that this was ok and well within limits.

 

Car had no water leaks. The water had escaped as steam through the water tank.

 

Had the car towed to The Phirm who were excellent and diagnosed straight away that it was the thermostat that had caused all this (pipe to radiator was hot, one underneath was cold - indicating it was the thermostat).

 

Will my engine have suffered any damage? It all sounds fine when it is revved stationary even to high revs. Haven't tried driving it or moving it so not sure what the strange metal grating noise was...the Phirm will carry out checks next week.

 

What could this strange metal grating noise have been?

 

Just had my car rolling roaded today at stealth (207bhp). Is it likely this figure will be reduced after today?

 

How quick or easy is it for The Phirm to do a compression test? Will that be the sure tell tale test to see if my engine has suffered any damage even slight damage?

 

Thanks for any help.

[colinstubbs 0]

Can't give you any specific advice but the feedback on the forum would suggest that if anything is wrong, the lads at the Phirm will have it nailed dead quick! Good luck mate.

[matth76 0]

Thanks mate. Just hoping my engine is ok and haven't lost any power or torque.

[NickVR6 0]

had mine go at 3 figures in my golf vr6. First thing i spied was the flashing red water light, prob only because it was dark!

 

I was 8 miles from homeat 3 in the morning so i let it cool down, drove 2 miles and knocked it off and so on until i got home.

 

Had it fixed and did another 30k sweet as a nut, and sol it to a mate who has taken it over 150k now and its still going strong and quiet. I wouldnt worry

so long as you didnt run it for an hour! Might be the water pump making that noise if it had run dry?

[double-6s 0]

Mine did similar recently mate. I reckon that noise is a feked water pump like NickVR6 said. I thought it was the bottom end on mine!

 

I reckon you'll be fine :)

[matth76 0]

Cheers guys. Really had me worried today. 'Hopefully' it will be ok. Just had a really good session this morning at stealth getting 207bhp. Really pleased with it. Then on way home down to sussex this happens! Un-nerving day!

[double-6s 0]

It'll be fine mate. I thought mine was dead but it doesn't seem to be any worse than before the 'water incedent'.

 

Where abouts are you based mate?

[matth76 0]

I live in Worthing too with my gf, in Goring. Car is currently with the phirm till next week ...so hopefully they should fix it. I'll let you know how I get on mate.

[double-6s 0]

Ooh, just down the road from me - I'm in west worthing :)

[G60SC_Stoney 0]

same thing happened to me about 3 weeks ago. changed the thermostat and all was fixed.... :D

[matth76 0]

Cheers guys. Did either of you have the strange metal grating noise (seemed to be coming from the passenger side) and only happened if I moved the car even very slowly. The noise didn't happen if revved when stationary. The water was completely empty though so it could have been the water pump running dry...I assume.

 

My main concern - assuming everything runs fine after I have a new thermostat - is that I have not lost any power - or caused very very slight wear or damage to the engine. Will a compression or leak down test tell me if the engine is fine?

 

Double 6s not far at all... could have seen your corrado, who knows :) I've seen one or two nice ones in worthing.

[Chris VR6nos 0]

i'VE JUST BOUGHT A THERMOSTAT FOR MY vr TOO, SEEMS TO BE THE SEASON FOR IT!

 

Damn Caps lock.

 

One piece of advice is to do an oil change as the oil won't be as oily as is was if the temp was that high so drop it out and be safe than sorry.

 

 

 

Chris

[matth76 0]

Thanks. I'll ask them to change the oil. Could I possibly have warped my head? Will a compression / leak down test show up this or any other damage to my engine?

[andy 0]

Yep its happened to me within the last year. Not uncommon, don't like the way they fail "unsafe".

[dr_mat 0]

Yes you could possibly have caused some damage. Is that what you wanted to hear? But hey, it's not possible to tell. All you can do is sit back and wait. If the head gasket goes next year you might have something you can point your finger at.

 

Chances are it will be fine. Bad things can happen if you boil the water off, but not generally until the oil burns off too .. ! (After all it's the oil that's cooling the hottest parts of the engine.)

 

Not sure about the scraping noise while moving the car though. I assume this noise went away?

[matth76 0]

Not sure if the noise went away when it got to the Phirm. I assume it will still be present. The oil temp rose to 118 no higher.

 

What I was wondering is would a compression test show up any damage?

[dr_mat 0]

There's no practical way to tell if you've warped the head/block other than waiting for something to give. (Usually a gasket!)

The impractical way is to strip it down and measure everything. Which seems ott..

People lose their coolant all the time (mine did it twice in four years), it's not the end of the world unless you're gunning the engine or you let it badly overheat.

[matth76 0]

Well the water temp went right to the max and the oil temp went to 118c. Must have caught it within a couple of mins I reckon. If the head was warped slightly would my power be reduced slightly too? Or would the power be unaffected.

[matth76 0]

Ok guys...another question - worst case scenario, say my head gasket needs to be done...now or in the future, how much extra (on top of the labour and parts to do the head gasket) would it cost "roughly" to fit a "big valve head", and everything needed? Got to try and make the best out of a bad situation! :) Anyone here know how much extra power a big valve head might produce? Or would a "gas flowed head" be better value for money..I know this is a lot cheaper, but how much power would this produce?

 

Cheers guys

[matth76 0]

All sorted. Had the thermostat changed and all seems fine now. Still pulls as hard as hell all 207bhp of it. Glad to have the car back! Also got The Phirm's quick shift for my gearbox. Certainly an improvement over the long throw on the stock golf gear box. Great thanks to the phirm for diagnosing and fixing it all. Only two days ago I thought my engine was f*cked!

[dr_mat 0]

And we told you a million times it wasn't... ;)