Does my car have a thermostat?

[Spooky]

Maybe a really stupid question.... but for some reason I have it in mind that modernish cars dont have them. I remember my old XR2 when this was part and parcel of the service but having had the old girl for 5 years its just dawned on me that i have never changed it. She does seem to run very hot (like when i get out of the car after a 100 mile run you can feel the heat coming off the engine)....

oh and the deets are in my signature :)

[stribo]

Yes, it does have a thermostat, but it's not a service item, just change it if it packs up. As long as the temperature gauge is reading halfway it's working fine, a 5 pot turbo engine is always going to give off a fair bit off heat once it's been used.

[jamesy12345]

Yes mate it has a thermostat. It lives in the casing/housing at the engine end of the top radiator hose.

You can do a quick check to see whether it is working by leaving the engine to idle for a while. While getting up to temperature the top hose will be relatively cold, but when the engine is up to temperature then the hose will become hot as the thermostat opens.

[foammanmark]

I removed my themostat on my ME7 T5 the other week, and found that I had to loosen the upper timing belt cover to get decent access to the bolts. Don't know if they're all the same?

[Spooky]

Cheers guys. Temp gauge is always in the middle and always has been so that's a good thing to know :)

[c70geoff]

Easy change dude but don't worry unless fracked