Car takes ages to warm up - new water pump & impellor recently fitted

[BillyWhizz]

Does anyone else have the problem, my Cupra wont warm up for F***ing ages.

Last night I drive home grannying it along country roads for 5 minutes at 40 - 50 mph then onto the A34 piddling along at 65Mph in 5th keeping it below 3 grand because the temp gauge still hadn’t moved after 8 minutes of driving.

I kept going until id been driving 12 minutes then the car began to warm up. Taking it gently up to 75Mph, it warmed to half way between 60.c and 90.c and stayed there for the best part of the journey home.

As I got near to home I thought that car must be warm by now as id been driving it for almost 20 minutes. The temp was now running at around 80.c, I put my foot down a little and went for a little baz and the car warmed up to normal 90.c running temp. But this was after around 20 - 25 minutes of driving.

I’ve just had the impellor and water pump changed and have never seen my car warm up so slowly before.

I’m thinking its possible the cooling system is now working 100% of the time, could the thermostat be jammed open by the broken impellor I just had replaced?

Would appreciate any feedback anyone has

Cheers

 

[gazjones]

thermostat open will make it warm up slower so could be worth looking in to. or the temp sensor could be faulty

 

[andycupra]

well it could take longer to warm up as the pump could have been broken for time previously, and thus warmed up fast..

however that seems tooo long! its possible the thermostat is jammed.
did they find all broken bits/ flush out coolant system?

 

[BillyWhizz]

They flushed out the coolant system and i "would have thought" after finding the broken impellor they would have found and got rid of any broken bits trapped in the system.

Do you think it will do any damage driving it in the mean time until i have it looked at?

 

[gazjones]

if you dont boot it it will be ok let it warm up before you do boot it maybe letting it warm up without moving will help as it wont have air gong over the radiator so should warm up, do this 5 mins before you are going to set off

 

[BillyWhizz]

Good idea, i dont intend to drive it too much before i get it fixed, its just annoying that the garage didnt get it right the first time.

Cheers for the advice

 

[jNx]

Where did you get it done?

If it's a garage take it back asap! Think I remember reading the thermostat is on the left side of the block down by the water pump and access is restricted? Might be wrong there I'll let someone else confirm it but they might be stripping all back down to change that part!

 

[Cupra R 231]

Someone else had this trouble not long ago and it turned out to be thermostat..
Sounds like it to me..
From what i remember the thermostat is pretty easy to get at and shouldn't take long at all to replace and there only a few quid so its worth replacing anyway before you try anything else that could be expensive

 

[BillyWhizz]

can anyone tell me how to get to the thermostat, where is it?

i think i might give it a go tomorrow

 

[Cupra R 231]

Not sure not had to look for it..... yet!!!
Do a search I'm sure i read about it a while ago.. from what i remember it was pretty dam easy to get to and its located with the temp gauge sender... just can't remember where...
Chase the pipes around and you'll soon find it

 

[bigjode]

It was me that had this recently - When i bought the car it had just had the pump replaced because it was overheating. Problem was that when i bought it, it wouldn't stay warm.

So i recently checked the Tstat and only half of it was in there. Apparently, when the prev. owner noticed it overheating, he put half a Tstat in there to keep the coolant flowing - this was before he realised it was the pump that was faulty.

To get at the tstat, you need to take off the alternator and throttle body. Once they're off you have easy access to the coolant hose that goes straight into the engine. Once this hose is off, you sill see the Tstat will be sitting there in the coolant channel.

If you fancy DIY'ing it, I can find a how to for removal of the alternator - thats the hard part. The coolant hose is only 2 10mm bolts so thats easy.

 

[gavthelad]

My girlfriend had this problem on her previous car....took a lifetime to warm up. Turned out to be an air lock in the coolant system when the waterpump was replaced. Might be worth bleeding it yourself in the process of elimination?

 

[TTS Roadsport]

There is no need to remove the alternator or the TB. There is enough room to get to the thermostat, its just awkward!!

If it an air pocket then run the car at idle with the coolant cap off until the fans come on. Any air will come out, usually with some coolant comin out too. Just top that up again.

 

[bigjode]

Yeah but when you've got hands like elephant hoofs, its easier to take bits off

I tried and tried but my tools just couldn't get in there.

 

[BillyWhizz]

My car now warms up normally, though I have not touched anything but drive it on a 30 mile trip and back, on the way back it warmed up normally to my surprise.

What's the odds of it being due to a water lock or some thing stuck in the thermostat that's now passed through the thermostat?

 

[bigjode]

its possible - just keep an eye on it. Remember, needle should hit 90 within about 10mins and stay there for the rest of the journey. SHouldn't move at all

 

[Cupra R 231]

I timed mine the other day for the time it took to reach COOLANT running temp..
It took 4 1/2 mins travelling at a steady 2 - 2.5k rpm..
I would still place my bets on the thermostat sticking a bit..
Just think if something got stuck in the thermostat, whatever it was is still floating around in the system somewhere which can't be good...

 

[BillyWhizz]

Mine is taking similar time to warm up, but I feel what your saying about what ever was blocking the thermostat open is still in there.

I might as well just change the thermostat and flush the system and hopefully that should see the end of the problem

 

[BillyWhizz]

forgot to say, has anyone got any tips for the easiest method for getting the thermostat out without removing the alternator etc