9 hours to change a thermostat! You have to be kidding me.

[ahebron]

Yep thats right.
It took me 9 hours to replace the thermostat on my 2014 VW Amarok.
The tstat is located down on the left side of the block between the oil filter housing and the engine mount (and alternator and power steering pump).
VW recommend letting the lh engine mount go and support the engine from above but I do not have the gear to do that so I decided to remove the oil filter housing and go in that way.
The throttle body, inlet hoses, all water hoses on the left of the motor, oil filter housing needed to be removed and all the hoses are the spring clip type. 
One of the hoses has a special o-ring that holds it in place and the pipe is bolted to the block behind the oil filter housing.
For the refit I bought one of the flexible tools for the hose clips, what a relief that was compared to using mole grips.
Due to water and oil mixing when i released the oil filter I did an oil and filter change.
Job finished and no parts left over and temp  gauge sits normal now instead of too cool.
I did use rubber grease on the hoses when i refitted them as most were right sods to remove, u fortunately i also greased the hose between the intercooler and throttle body so 1  mile from home on the test drive it popped off so I limped back and reattached it after degreasing it.

This job was the only time i have ever felt that a vehicle has nearly beaten me, my right knee was playing up with arthritis and I am getting over a dodgy disc in my lower back. This was the first time I have used step ladder to work in an engine bay on one of my own cars and i have owned and worked on 110 Landrover, Dicovery 300 TDi and an L322 Range Rover. The day before I stripped and swapped over the left side doors on my parents Freelander 2.What little info there is on this job all states iut is a pig of a job and takes a long time but i did not expect it to take as long
 

[dougbgt6]

Well done!

I shan't be buying one of those.

Doug

[68vitesse]

Are all moderns complicated?, my Vitesse two bolts top of engine for thermostat, A3 two thermostats somewhere down left side, viewed from drivers seat, of engine.

Is this called progress?.

Regards

Paul.

[Mathew]

The puma 1.7 engine is down, next to the oil filter , under a plastic fitting with two pipes going to it. A real faf on a puma but not too bad on a spitfire. The tourneo,  i have no idea where the thermostat is, the oil filter is a ball ache, one of those paper ones with a plastic housing buried under pipework, get a quality replacement otherwise you have no oil pressure! How do i know? Europarts has alot to answer.

[johny]

38 minutes ago, ahebron said:

Yep thats right.
It took me 9 hours to replace the thermostat on my 2014 VW Amarok.
The tstat is located down on the left side of the block between the oil filter housing and the engine mount (and alternator and power steering pump).
VW recommend letting the lh engine mount go and support the engine from above but I do not have the gear to do that so I decided to remove the oil filter housing and go in that way.
The throttle body, inlet hoses, all water hoses on the left of the motor, oil filter housing needed to be removed and all the hoses are the spring clip type. 
One of the hoses has a special o-ring that holds it in place and the pipe is bolted to the block behind the oil filter housing.
For the refit I bought one of the flexible tools for the hose clips, what a relief that was compared to using mole grips.
Due to water and oil mixing when i released the oil filter I did an oil and filter change.
Job finished and no parts left over and temp  gauge sits normal now instead of too cool.
I did use rubber grease on the hoses when i refitted them as most were right sods to remove, u fortunately i also greased the hose between the intercooler and throttle body so 1  mile from home on the test drive it popped off so I limped back and reattached it after degreasing it.

out of interest did you get a price from VW to do the job?

[ahebron]

42 minutes ago, johny said:

out of interest did you get a price from VW to do the job?

No I did not need a laugh.
I have always serviced my own vehicles except for automatic gearboxes and was not going to let a lousy thermostat stop me.
Interestingly in the 5 years I have owned this vehicle apart from the thermostat over cooling the only other issue I have had was the EGR cooler getting blocked but I removed it and managed to clean it even though they recommend replacing it. Lots of chemicals and an ultrasonic cleaner plus a pack of pipe cleaners saw that job done.

 

[Pete Lewis]

perseverance .................. seems to take longer as the years tick by  Ha !

Pete

 

[clive]

I was talking to a garage owner last weekend. He was saying that despite the public believing german cars are super reliable, they are a real issue to work on. Over-complex, take ages to do jobs etc. Saying that, he has a soft spot for early Skoda Fabias, reckon they are superb and runs a fleet as complimentary vehicles. 

He reckons BMWs are nearly as leaky as Triumphs. And who though a timing chain at the back of an engine was a good idea?

[Colin Lindsay]

I replaced a powersteering pipe on a Freelander 2 recently, took me about five days. One end has one connection, needs a special tool, the other has a different connection, needs a special tool, it's all torx fittings and one-time snap locks that close at the factory and are never supposed to be undone ever again. There's always one bolt or nut that can't be reached and the online instructions are usually: "you need a thin walled long reach six sided 15.5mm socket in 1/4 drive with a four feet extension bar with a fine ratchet handle and you go through the hole behind the headlamp which must be removed first" sort of thing.

[Mathew]

43 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

I replaced a powersteering pipe on a Freelander 2 recently, took me about five days. One end has one connection, needs a special tool, the other has a different connection, needs a special tool, it's all torx fittings and one-time snap locks that close at the factory and are never supposed to be undone ever again. There's always one bolt or nut that can't be reached and the online instructions are usually: "you need a thin walled long reach six sided 15.5mm socket in 1/4 drive with a four feet extension bar with a fine ratchet handle and you go through the hole behind the headlamp which must be removed first" sort of thing.

Those jobs usually involve sacrifice, blood from the knuckles before they submit.

[Badwolf]

As I have mentioned before I assume that my current modern and it's predecessor had/have engines as they work/ed. I never saw the previous one in the 10 years that I had it. The current one I have now had for two years....same thing. 

[DVD3500]

3 hours ago, clive said:

I was talking to a garage owner last weekend. He was saying that despite the public believing german cars are super reliable, they are a real issue to work on. Over-complex, take ages to do jobs etc. Saying that, he has a soft spot for early Skoda Fabias, reckon they are superb and runs a fleet as complimentary vehicles. 

He reckons BMWs are nearly as leaky as Triumphs. And who though a timing chain at the back of an engine was a good idea?

Yeah I can see that,... The Opel Astra station wagon/estate required you to lift the engine to get the oil filter out.
The window crank on the old Golf was built in a way you had to replace the whole crank if the knob came off.

Lambda sesnors seem to burn out at 50k KM on all of them and if it is a Mercedes will take a day to get at...

I had a Skoda Felcia for years. Last of the "real" Skodas. Mostly a Favorit just with Bosch throttle body injection and better quality control. Had a lot of fun in that car. I only did real basic maintenance on it unless something went wrong.  I had to import the repair manual from the UK as there were none in Germany. Even that car though required you to remove what was essentially the intake manifold to replace the spark plugs.
Oh and the alternator cost 300€ crazy ....

 

[johny]

4 hours ago, clive said:

I was talking to a garage owner last weekend. He was saying that despite the public believing german cars are super reliable, they are a real issue to work on. Over-complex, take ages to do jobs etc. Saying that, he has a soft spot for early Skoda Fabias, reckon they are superb and runs a fleet as complimentary vehicles. 

He reckons BMWs are nearly as leaky as Triumphs. And who though a timing chain at the back of an engine was a good idea?

+1 for Fabias - 1.9sdi (no turbo rubbish) what a workhorse🙂

[Unkel Kunkel]

Over a good few years:

VW Eos probably the most trouble- prone car I’ve had but so good  when everything sorted, kept it.

Ford - various - mostly good apart from CMax which was difficult to work on and tricky electrics.

old mini - very little trouble

Opel Kadett - lots of problems!

Peugeot and Citroen - several; quite a lot of unrelated issues with all.

Skoda Yeti 2 Diesel 4x4   -just all round brilliant.

Land-Rover Freelander 1 ( x3)all  good; Discovery MK 1 , good , Freelander 2 (x2) excellent.

 

[clive]

A good friends daughetr bought her "dream car" a land rover evoque. 2 years old, and fortuantely bought the extended, all emcompassing warranty (2 or 3 years?) to cover the finance period. Glad she did, it spent nearly as much time being fixed/waiting for parts as in her possession. It went back eventually, and some poor sod will buy it and be stuffed if they don't get a long warranty....

Out experiences: C max, bought at a year with 1000miles, great fror the next 20K until sold.

Our, now daughters, Pug 107 has been faultless in the 7 years of our ownership except it likes to eat front tyres every 10-12K and at 9 years old needed a battery.

Other daughter Fiat 500, faultless until 7 years old when thermostat housing cracked (common) her husband has a punto, same age, no faults except Rodent damage to lambda sensor wiring.

Toyota auris, did 60k, nothing to report at all.

Currently a 2005 Jazz. Apart from the exhaust system recently falling apart at ever pipe to box join (I dropped the system ad welded it all up) and batteries every few years when owned by MIL (barely used) no breakdowns at all. 

I will be buying a honda/Toyota again when I decide what I want. Meanwhile the jazz is a brilliant little workhorse. Not a fun to drive car (not bad, just unexciting), but does everything well and suits my current needs nicely. 

[Badwolf]

Currently using a 2nd hand Auris. Ok up to now. Disappointed with the main dealer pre delivery service but put it down to being rushed through due to covid...to far away to muck about with valetting and other stuff.

[PeteH]

On 19/05/2022 at 18:09, clive said:

Pug 107 has been faultless in the 7 years of our ownership except it likes to eat front tyres every 10-12K and at 9 years old needed a battery.

Snap, I currently have the Semi-Auto box version. Which gets "A" framed behind the motorhome. The only things replaced so far, Rear brake shoes, Towed with hand brake partially on ☹️ (and front`s + changed the fluid, as precaution), and the Lower Engine mount, strangely?. It too is now due tyres for MOT coming up.

I`ve had Fiat Punto`s, 4 of them 16V 1200. pocket rockets. Buy `em cheap, when they fail MOT, drag the best bits off and scrap!. Or flog "spares or repair".

Pete

[Pete Lewis]

the only car i have owned for years was the Vitesse6 for 15years and apart from scratching through the file of upkeeps and modifications  was faultless 

Pete

I see Aldi are advertising electric push bikes  names as Vitesse 

Pete

 

[Steve P]

I remember a few years ago changing a water pump and thermostat on my daughters 2003 Mini Cooper.Took me 2 days.

You have to remove the whole front of the car including the subframe,Ac and coolant rad.

Nightmare under a gazebo, started on Boxing day in freezing weather.

S

[Peter Truman]

I’ll keep a look out here fancy that, Aldi Electric Vitesse Push Bikes!

[Pete Lewis]

It took 6 hours with a few mistakes to swap one of the rear suspension  sub frames on the 2000  easy enough but frustrating when balancing the trailing arm on a jack the drive  shaft telescope parted and I had not noticed , just 4 bolts and refit but that added some time i wasnt expecting you have to drop the flange as the angles .baulk any short cut on refitting 

Pete

[Josef]

2 hours ago, Steve P said:

I remember a few years ago changing a water pump and thermostat on my daughters 2003 Mini Cooper.Took me 2 days.

You have to remove the whole front of the car including the subframe,Ac and coolant rad.

Nightmare under a gazebo, started on Boxing day in freezing weather.

S

I’ve done the thermostat on an ‘08 Cooper S, back of the engine with no clearance so pretty much everything was done by feel. Also not fun. Sounds like the R53s were worse there though…

[thescrapman]

A friend has asked me to help change the air filter on his TD4 equipped Freelander.

Lets just say it isn't as easy as the air filter on a TD5 Discovery. You appear to have to remove the entire inlet system and partly dismantle the cylinder head.

TD4 - German technology - 3-4 hours minimum

TD5 - British technology - 3-4 minutes.

 

[Mathew]

59 minutes ago, thescrapman said:

A friend has asked me to help change the air filter on his TD4 equipped Freelander.

Lets just say it isn't as easy as the air filter on a TD5 Discovery. You appear to have to remove the entire inlet system and partly dismantle the cylinder head.

TD4 - German technology - 3-4 hours minimum

TD5 - British technology - 3-4 minutes.

 

Be careful , rover 75. Rear spark plugs on the v6 engine! 

[Wagger]

On 19/05/2022 at 09:24, 68vitesse said:

Are all moderns complicated?, my Vitesse two bolts top of engine for thermostat, A3 two thermostats somewhere down left side, viewed from drivers seat, of engine.

Is this called progress?.

Regards

Paul.

On BMW 2002's it is simply connected between three hoses. A doddle, but needs draining half the coolant. Two bolts on the Vitesse is much quicker.