Thermistors and odd objects in CCMs

[MistralS60]

Hi all

Suspecting the thermistor in my 2004 MY S60 was faulty I set out to remove it. Having taken the PCB off the rest of the works a thing like a small-signal diode fell out of the temperature sensor tube in which the thermistor is mounted. There is no mounting for it on this tube.

The thermistor proved to be OK, but having cut its leads to test it I'm replacing it with one from ebay with a virtually identical thermal coefficient, +/-1% tolerance (the now unobtainable original has +/-5%) and 7 sec response time (original 3 sec, but I shouldn't think that matters).

If you buy one make sure it has a 25 degC value of 10,000 Ohms (10k) and a "B" (beta) rating of 3435 for the correct thermal coefficient. B=3900-4000 is tooo high.

The "thing like a small-signal diode" can't be one because it has the same conductivity in both directions : DMM set to range 200 ohms, reading "1"; DMM set to 2000 ohms or higher, reading "0". There's no indication of polarity, but apart from that it does look quite like a small-signal diode with a gap in the middle of a copper filling. Anyone have any idea what it is and from whence it came ?

Hope this interests someone
keith