Club 80-90 Forums

Went to my "friendly" VW dealership today to find out they sell thermostats for £15 (but havent got them in stock!).

Are they having a joke ? They are only £5 from GSF (abeit not original).

Needless to say i didnt order it - I feel a GSF order coming on......

Ringo

£15 sounds reasonable to me, infact it sounds right, go price one up for another brand of car, Subaru for example.
You've been spoilt with GSF selling inexpensive parts, but I no longer use GSF thermostats because I was sick of replacing them.
If you want to do the job once and not have to do it again for years then fit VW, if you want to keep doing the job over and over till you get sick of replacing them and then have to buy a VW one anyway then buy one from GSF!!

simon is the third mechanic i have heared this from.get a genuine vw one...its only money...

but I no longer use GSF thermostats because I was sick of replacing them

--& thats the conudrum, aint it?---fact is the genuine part will do the job & fit-The VW dealer will get it for you in a couple'o days--the GSF pattern part may do the job for a resonable time or not at all & cause you grief---BUT folk are not prepared to pay the extra cost--GSF themselves admit that if (as in some cases) they offer a cheap part & a similar more expensive better quality part---people genrally go for the cheaper part---I look at it this way--there are cheap 'recreational' parts--ie suitable for use if your van is just a toy you drive for fun on sunny days & to shows etc--& good quailty 'proffessional' parts if you need to use your van every day-----yer pays yer money-----etc--etc---

Ok - point taken!!!

I thought it would be around a tenner - i was partly wondering if i was getting ripped off because its Cambridge (everything else seems twice the price).

Does anyone know how much coolant im likely to loose when i change a thermostat ?

I was kind of hoping they had them in stock as i was planning to flush the coolant system tomorrow - might have to wait then....

Thanks

Ringo

Yep its one of the few things that you should by as O/E.

Many years back when I had a garage we purchased a 45gal drum of holts antifreeze, it was new to the market and cheaper than bluecol, problem was it had a low boiling point and certain cars had a habit of doing head gaskets in as the coolant boiled before the stat opened.

Mike

frell! for the sake of a nail! spend the extra tenner!

i only ever buy vw bits for the engine on mine.

jed

Ringo, if you consider having it fitted by your friendly local VW dealer @65 GBP per hour+ Vat, it comes with a life time guarantee.

This safety net is not given by any Tom, DDick or Harry...........


Regards,

Fritz,,,,,

---the way I change cooling bits--is--dont remove rad cap--put bucket under where you are working--remove & refit bit--there wont be a huge amount of coolant coming out--when you have finished, filter coolant in bucket thru stocking & pour back into header tank--

Simon Baxter wrote:£15 sounds reasonable to me, infact it sounds right, go price one up for another brand of car, Subaru for example.
You've been spoilt with GSF selling inexpensive parts, but I no longer use GSF thermostats because I was sick of replacing them.
If you want to do the job once and not have to do it again for years then fit VW, if you want to keep doing the job over and over till you get sick of replacing them and then have to buy a VW one anyway then buy one from GSF!!

I have to say i agree with Simon after replacing Two thermostats new GSF .Both failed operating open temp after aprox 800 miles.I went for the VW one.

Hi
I,ve just bought a GSF themostat and had to take it back - it wouldn't fit! I was going to try a JK one next.

JK and GSF seem to use the same sources for their spurious bits.
Chances are JK will be the same as GSF.

When I was in France last summer, I found the only place I could fuel pipe of a decent quality and of the correct diameter for the links on the injectors was a VW dealer compared to their equivalent of Halfords. I'm spoilt for choice for parts place in a city like Brum (the only thing decent abouit living in a city) but I usually check the VW dealer for bits first then GSF.

The only time I got let down by VW was when I was trying to replace the L / U shaped selector thing that bolts onto the side of the gearbox. VW supplied one type only and it was very different from mine - JK seemed to only supply the other type, strange one that.

We only ever use Gen VAG parts when available! Just fit it and you never see it again for years!