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[Various models] Ultra cheap Thermostat fix

2K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  davealfa11 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi,
My car was always at 60ºC at its best, and I was really tired of the repair invoices that the car gave during last year and still this one. So I was definitively going to leave it running cold or fixing it by some cheap fix.
I found this video on youtube:
Termostat JTD / Thermostat JTD - cheap replacement / Termostato JTD - sostituzione a basso costo - YouTube

Basically it consists on to plug a new thermostat on the pipe that goes to the engine's thermostat.
Beware, that ***** is awfully hard to insert, I had to put some grease on the pipe to make it a bit easier, and anyway the next day I had some stiffness on my arms :D
Really cheap, I got it for 10 euro (8.3£).

The thermostat is a TH4493.89, it opens at 89 degrees (1 degree over the stock thermostat). That particular model wasn't available here, so I bought a TH4493.86, which open at 86 degrees.

I tried it and worked pretty well. Now the car runs at 80-84 degress, and heats up pretty fast.
I left it parked on idle for 15 minutes to check if it overheated in a dangerous way. Eventually it got hotter and reached 97 degrees, then the fans started to blow and cooled it to 90 in seconds.
Then I started driving and the temp went a bit down, finally keeping at 82-84 degrees.
So I guess that everything is working well!

I noticed the difference yesterday: I exited late from the job, picked the car (it was cold) and went to buy something for dinner 15 minutes before the shops closed.
That meant heavy foot, and some rally driving :lol:.
I arrived in 3-4 minutes, bought some pizza and came back to the car 10 minutes later, then I went to pick my girl, so another 5 minutes of driving (some heavy foot again, just for fun;) )
When I arrived the car was at 82 degrees! And sounded a bit better :) .
So, it worked for me :thumbs:

What do you think? Of course if you try it, its at your own risk! ;)
 
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#2 ·
We've seen this before in the forum, it's known as the 'Renault 5 fix', quite a few threads on the subject.

Great if it works for you, certainly a lot cheaper.

Report back in a couple of weeks on how it's holding up.

All the best

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