have i been ripped? Thermostat Housing

alexrogers · Post by **alexrogers** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:42 pm

Hi everyone,

This is my first post and i regulary read and follow the advices on the forum.

Recently my car temperature use to rise to 110 so i got worried and took it to the mechanic.

I read on here usually its the thermostat and its really cheap.

I wanted to know if i have been ripped off by my mechanic, he said that susally people think its the thermostat but infact its the housing which is crap on the mk4s.

He replaced that and also he had to put the red colour antifreeze.

He showed me the old housing and i saw him putting the new one in. Im not very technical so i just agreed with him.

The job took him 15mins and then another 10min kept the car running to see if everything is ok.

He charged me £40 for the housing, antifreeze and the labour.

I know its not a big deal but i just wanted to know if its too much or ok.

Cause some people say a thermostat would be cheap.

look forward for your comments

Post by **alexperkins** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 4:32 pm

Bottle of antifreeze is about £10

Thermostats about £15

then add labour

I wouldnt say thats a bad price

If you do it yourself, its cheaper of course, but thats not an unreasonable price

alexrogers · Post by **alexrogers** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 4:44 pm

thanks for that alex!

feel much happy now lol

Post by **alexperkins** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 11:18 pm

No problem

alexrogers · Post by **alexrogers** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 4:03 pm

Sorry to trouble again but the problems back

I phoned my mechanic and he said to bring it back on wednesday but still i dont know if he was sure about the housing itself.

He changed the housing lasttime and he also put antifreeze. Then everything was fine as he kept it running for a good 15-20min

Right, the current situation is:

The car temperature gauge goes to 110 after 10mins of driving. Then when i put the heating on it goes down to middle again.

My heating inside the car is working fine and im getting hot air.

I opened the bonnet and the fan also comes on fine.

I felt the pipes aswell and they are flowing and fine.

I dont know what else could it be?

Could it be the temperature sensor? One of my neighbours told me he had a old polo long time ago but he said why have i got a blue colour sensor as his was a yellow :s

I read online sometimes it could be a waterpump too :s

please help

Post by **alexperkins** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 6:42 pm

He should've replaced the thermostat at the same time as the housing. Check if he did and if not, he needs to.

It sounds a though the thermostat isn't opening causing the temperature to rise and when you put the heater on, heat is getting removed and the temperature drops

It could also be a blocked radiator

They change the colours of the sensors as time goes by as technology improves etc

Old polos were blue, then yellow, then black, and now green

I wouldn't think it's a problem with the water pump, though it's possible as many of the old polos had plastic pump fins which can get weak and break off with age.

benmkiv · Post by **benmkiv** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 12:24 pm

Or head gasket? :/ worst case scenario. But I wouldn't wanna be paying any more money and I'd consider going somewhere else.

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