Thermostat Stuck Open?

[one-lady-owner 1]

my 1.9 does some strange things when you look at the temperature gauges.....

 

Basically, when driving the coolant will sit at just about 70, the oil temp sensor will sit on the stop and the oil pressure will sit at 6bar cold, and will slowly fall to just below 4, the thing that is making me believe the thermostat is stuck open is that if I sit in traffic, or just sit idling for any length of time (ie. without cold air moving past the radiator) the coolant temp will go up to about 90, the oil temp will sit at about 70 and the idle oil pressure will drop to about 2 bar...... being my first 1.9 this may be completely normal, but it seemed to be running a little cold to me!

 

Any ideas?

[welshpug 1,627]

sounds quite normal to me, mine hardly ever sees the fans come on since the rad was replaced with a Nissens one.

[philfingers 5]

how'd you know it's sitting just above 70. Most of the std dashes aren't marked? If it is sitting at 70 then yes probably a stat. It's an easy thing to change, unlike my V6 audi which is a 4 hrs job! You could try dropping some cardboard down in front of the rad, if the temp creeps up a bit on the open road it's probably the stat. But TBH I'd just change it, it's dead eacy and they're only a few pounds

[one-lady-owner 1]

My phase 2 dash is marked in degrees....... just thought I'd see if the temp behaviour is normal for the 1.9 engine, having not had one before I thought I'd check before I started replacing things!!

[philfingers 5]

oh nice! I'd change the stat to be sure