Recommended thermostat 1.3?

Hi everyone,

I can't get a hold of the Nipparts J1536001 thermostat recommended by HJ, so which other brands have people used with success? I have a 1998 1.3 Petrol. I'm a bit confused about the degree openings - which is best?

There's a Blueprint one at my local parts place (but it's £20!) and then there's these:

Another blueprint 84 Deg:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1x-Thermostat-coolant-BLUE-PRINT-ADD69209-DAIHATSU-APPLAUSE-I-APPLAUSE-II-/291584407549?fits=Car+Make%3ADaihatsu%7CModel%3AHijet%7CCars+Year%3A1998%7CCars+Type%3A1.3&hash=item43e3c8f7fd:g:ajEAAOSw~bFWFlup

Nordic 78 Deg:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nordic-Thermostat-Genuine-OE-Spec-Cooling-System-Replacement-/351419672268?fits=Model%3AHijet&hash=item51d23ea6cc:g:ligAAOSwo3pWcArH

Vernet 82 Deg:
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Daihatsu_Hijet_1.3_1998/p/car-parts/cooling/car-cooling-parts-and-car-heating/car-thermostat/?209600071&1&4f7f10622a2a7eaa6780729a1dade136eaa87116&000325

I'm sure there are loads others.

Thanks in advance and sorry for yet another question! Really want to try and do it right.

Sara

I hope that I am not treading on your toes Matt with this.
I personally wouldn't touch Europarts, First Line or the Nordic variety. They aren't the genuine Daihatsu pattern thermostats.
The first one you posted the Blue Line one is. It is the same as the one you were quoted £20 for locally, but on Ebay is half the price. It is the same style as the genuine Daihatsu one which I would guess is well in excess of £50 from them. The Nippon one is the one to go for initially, but my second choice would be the Blue Line thermostat .

Nice one, thanks for that. Shame the others won't do as they're more in the price range I was hoping for!

Don't even know if I need one... I was going to take the old one out and test it in water but I'm thinking for the cost of the part, and seeing as I'll be faffing around getting to it anyway, I might as well replace it.

Ten quid on Ebay is a good price. I would wait for further advice before going any further. If it isn't overheating, leave well alone. If the advice is to replace it, and you are going to attempt to do it yourself, ideally buy yourself a 1/4" drive socket set with some extension bars, preferably "Wobble Bars".

Be very gentle taking the small hose off the top of the Thermostat Housing as the connection elbow gets rather brittle with age. If you break that, the Housing is just over £60 with postage from Woodford Motors in Essex or Panda Motors in Swansea area.
Exercise real caution when undoing the three 10mm headed setbolts that holds the housing onto the Cylinder Head. If just one of them breaks particularly the rear setbolt, you have got a large problem on your hands.
Hang on for HJ's advice before going any further is my advice ultimately.

Thanks very much. It's just overheated twice and I don't know why - I've posted in another thread everything I know about it. I'll definitely change the rad caps but I'm a bit worried about what else is messed up.

OK as I said on the other thread I've checked the thermostat and it appears to be working. Pain to get to! I have pictures if they're useful?

Does the fan work?

Don't know... I've can't recall ever hearing it - what is it supposed to sound like and when should it kick in? Might be a stupid question... sorry!

If your temp guage works and you have the van stood then I would suspect it should kick in when the guage needle hits just over 3/4 way to te 'oh my g*d!'end stop. It would sound like...err...a fan going round, similar to the heater fan I suppose. If you 'carefully' look underneath you should see it going round, ideally it should not be on for too long, maybe about 15-20 seconds till its cooled the water going through the radiator down, then stop, only to start again when the water gets too hot again and so on. This is all reliant on there being no air locks and the bottom hose actually getting hot. If it does get hot then it may be the sensor, or check someone has not wired an override switch in so the fan only cones on manually. An override switch should not stop the fan kicking in by itself but hey you never know what previous owners have done as I am finding out!
PS if it sounds as though I know what I am talking about...I dont really, just good at remembering what I have read on here and blagging it 
Hope my ramblings may help anyway.
Love hearing about the van, was so close to thinking about taking it on, be great to hear its on the road again.

Yes I love Fran, I am glad I got her even though it's been a pain and also financially damaging! But it just looked so cute and exactly what I want, a little thing that I can use everyday (!)

I've never seen the van get up to 3/4, it's always at just under 1/2 and moves up to about 1/2 sometimes in traffic. The only times I've seen it reach 3/4 and above is 1) when I first put the engine back in and just sloshed some water in without bleeding it 2) the other day at the end of a 215 mile journey and 3) a couple of days after on a trip round town. Before that, the excessive oil consumption was the problem. But now there's obviously something else wrong.