02peteg

So i have replaced the thermostat one time already but I did not realize that they went out so fast... Three weeks to be exact. Is there a known problem with these thermo's?

AudiCO

Out of curiosity, what are the symptoms that led you to believe the thermostat has failed?

02peteg

Well for starters the way I tell if a thermostat is bad is when the motor is already hot i touch the upper and the lower radiator hoses at the same time and feel to see if there is a significant difference in temperature... Then if it is significant I take the thermo off and get water up to 200 degrees and see if it opens up. The difference between the upper and lower hoses was over 80 degrees by my laser thermometer...

02peteg

Oh yeh and the tell tale sign on the original was that it fell apart from the composite breaking down

Pete@ECSTuning

Its usually a one time replacement. Should get at least 80k out of a new thermo.

Where did you get your replacement from?

AudiCO

Hmm, what is the age/condition of your water pump? I'm about to tackle the timing belt et al. on mine and I'm trying to decide if I should throw in a new thermostat as well. This is on an '02 1.8T w/ 71K miles.

Pete@ECSTuning

I would if you have the money. It only adds 3 minutes to the job because you are already "in there" to do the TB. They aren't as prone to failure as the b5's though. Consequently, a new thermostat assembly for a b5 is ~25 bucks and for a b6 it is ~100

Also, I didn't know if you knew that we have TB kits put together that save you a bunch of money:

Timing belt kits



Thermostats

AudiCO

Just the answer I would expect to hear from a salesperson . Actually, that was exactly my thought process, I just haven't heard about many B6 thermostats failing. I am aware you all have the kit; in fact, I just installed the aero wiper kit I got from you yesterday and it works great.

Pete@ECSTuning

I'm glad you are happy with the aero wipers, the difference was night and day for me.

And at least I told you they fail often

Reggie

I had one fail on a 2.8 only 10K after the belt was done (included the wp and theromstat)