diesel thermostats

[genpk]

As drover said, the hose to keep an eye on is the turbo coolant hose.
That and the small rear turbo hose are the hard ones to see, the oil cooler hose and egr hose are easy to see if keaking.
Unfortunately your local mechanic wont look for the 2 hidden hoses unless you have a reasonable leak. I got all 4 problematic hoses done as i was loosing small amounts of coolant every week so went looking myself and found the turbo coolant hose leaking at 60k and the other hoses all showed dried coolant around the hose ends.
Also the other weak point is those factory spring clamps.Get jubillee clamps put on.
I think that any eco diesel owner should be lifting the bonnet once a week,
check the coolant level, check there is not any oil in the coolant.
If the car is running ok, temps normal , along with regular oil changes the car should be fine. Will things wear out, yep but if you get onto them early enough things should fine- albeit somthing unexpected like crank bearing failure etc.

[GCDingo]

Thanks guys. I am going to tackle this myself. My z hose and the rear coolant hose both have crust on them. Just wondering if while dropping the coolant to do these whether I should do thermostat as well but car runs fine and service religiously so think I might save some money and leave it for now.

Just deal with the problem hoses and go from there.

Interestingly the power steering reservoir was showing low, so I topped that for the first time in 100km. Needed to give it another 50ml's or so a couple of days later but seems to have settled. Can't find any signs of leaks anywhere.

Thanks again

[drover]

Yep any sign of crusty bits is a sure sign either clamp is failing or hose ................ i do a weekly tyre kick under the bonnet and underneath, the stainless steel bash plates are a perfect for showing signs of dribbling.....

I have topped up my PS fluid at odd times not by much, no drips anywhere so I just assume its boiled off a bit, give it a dribble of Penrite LDAS ...

If the thermostat housing shows no cracks and the metal bits aren't buckled, the plug in place evenly then it should be good, make sure the seal is in place and don't use gorilla grip to tighten the bolts...

[genpk]

Originally Posted by drover

Yep any sign of crusty bits is a sure sign either clamp is failing or hose ................ i do a weekly tyre kick under the bonnet and underneath, the stainless steel bash plates are a perfect for showing signs of dribbling.....

I have topped up my PS fluid at odd times not by much, no drips anywhere so I just assume its boiled off a bit, give it a dribble of Penrite LDAS ...

If the thermostat housing shows no cracks and the metal bits aren't buckled, the plug in place evenly then it should be good, make sure the seal is in place and don't use gorilla grip to tighten the bolts...

Power steering fluid loss will the the inner seal on the passenger side of the steering rack. The reason you cant see any drips is it gradually fills the rubber boot up and eventually flows out.
Common issue with Wk2s.
I have the same issue but found when i swapped over to Penrite LDAS fluid it seems to have stopped it or at least very minimal , maybe slightly thicker oil.
Re theremostats, checking out the Dayco thermostats against the cheapies out there.
Dayco seem to use the same generic plastic housing as the cheapies but the thermostat element is different and better quality than all the rest.
Housing has a faint stamp with D88c one side and an 88c stamped on the bottom of the thermostat as well as a different locking base plate.
The factory Mopar one by Mahle has a slightly heavier housing and has the 88c stamped in white on the side.
The cheapies have absolutely nothing on them to indicate temp.