Type 4 (1700) Thermostat - Am I meant to have one?

[Mr Beckstar]

Hi everyone,

I have been working on Daisy and had the yuckie job of replacing the alternator.  Whilst I had the lower tin off and giving her a good clean up, I noticed that I do not have a thermostat, or cable, however I do have the small pulley and the bolts that are required to attach the thermostat.  Is this a common thing to be missing in Kombi's in Australia (I think she spent most of her life in QLD in the past).

Daisy has a Type 4, 1700cc engine in her.

Many thanks

Paul

Yes, it's very common for the thermostat to be missing.

It's best to have a working thermostat. VW wouldn't have bothered to put them in if they weren't a good idea. It's part of the system that warms your engine up quickly. It's well known that most wear occurs in an engine when the components and oil are cold, so that's why you want to warm you engine up quickly. 

Whilst you are located in QLD, which means you probably don't have extreme minimum ambient temperatures (hence making the engine very cold thus taking a very long time to warm up), I'd suggest the oil temperature (which also gives an idea that other engine components temperature) needs to be at least 70 degrees C before the engine is considered warmed up. Last time I checked, minimum temperatures in QLD are not quite 70 degrees, so there is still some benefit to be had.

Anyway, it's one thing having a missing thermostat, but you also need to find out whether you've got missing cooling air flaps. Here's a link to a YouTube video by yours truly that will help you understand what those cooling flaps are and where they're located. Link to Cooling Flaps Video