I'm currently doing a clutch and crank seal engine change on my Type 1 1600 engine, and have noticed that I currently have no thermostat and related flaps fitted in my fan shroud. I do have the standard airbox with preheat flap, currently the van is taking about 10mins to warm up (I have a dipstick temp gauge). Getting the complete setup appears difficult most suppliers only carry some of the parts required, flaps being the hardest to find. One supplier told be not to bother (vw heritage) yet just kampers state it's very important. I'm confused!
get them off flea bay... look inside your oil filler cap, if its gungy its because its not getting hot enough on short trips. i fitted a set over the winter while engine was out....... some say you don't need them some say you wear out valve guides if not fitted. you decide!
if you take a read on type 2 , it says that your engine is at its optimium temp after about half an hour but others my say different ?
While rebuilding my T2, the older guru pinned my flaps half open and half closed, (we lay our van up in the winter). He says they've done this for years, it keeps from wondering if the linkages and the thermo. is working. It's been three years now and I've not changed it. If it were me I'd leave them off, rather than have them seize closed in hot weather! But that's just me.
Ten minutes initial warmup even with preheat air, flaps and stat seems about right. In the winter the wind up to 65mph onto the motorway after three miles at 30mph can still be a bit hesitant with oil temp just reaching 60C. Half an hour to warmed up completely to 110-120C after driving constantly at 65-70 also seems right. I think the bus once had stuck flaps because the thermostat rod was a bit kinked and caught . It hit 130C on the motorway ...But a few minutes fast idle in a traffic queue and it seemed to unstick and cool back to 100-110C. Now I have full flow filter oil thermostat and air scoop fed oil cooler the bus reaches 80C on calm pootles and if driven fast gets to 100C. This also holds another 2 liters of oil.
Vw fitted them for a reason If they could have saved a fourtune in production costs by leaving them off they would have
Agree to a certain extent Para but don`t forget the vans were designed to be used in everything from desert temperatures to well below freezing. I took the flaps out 20 years ago and it`s never been an issue despite spending many-a- summer abroad in 40+ degree temperatures and snow in the winter months . Yes , they help the van warm up faster if your`re doing a 10 minute spin to the shops but after that when fully open they`re redundant and i took them out for that very reason - i was going travelling and figured if they`d have stuck closed in those temperatures the motor would have been fried in minutes. Worth taking a bit longer to warm the engine for piece of mind knowing it`s getting air .... Pointless having `em there in my `umble opinion , others will say that`s rubbish but they probably `read about it somewhere ...`
Even if you don't have a thermostat, you should still have the flaps, and wedge them wide open. When fully opened, the flaps help to guide cooling air to the heads, and reduce the risk of you frying them.
If you look at the direction the flaps are pointing when fully open, you will see what I mean. Just flaps on their own with no thermostat is better than no flaps at all.
