Thermoststat Opening

[Berkswolf]

Not the Chrysler fitted one, but the Renaut in line jobby. After reading other topics on the subject of winterising the GV I decided to take the advice and do the mods. Did Quintecs? grill blocking mod with pipe insulation and was going to do the thermostat. Got one via ebay supplied by eurocarparts for a fiver. On a whim I decided to to test it before doing the mod. To my suprise it didn't seem to open in boiling water. I thought perhaps I had damaged it doing the drilling so got another. The same boiling water test showed it only opening just enough to see light through the gap, and barely at that. Is this normal? I would have thought it should open wide at boiling point. Any one else tried one?

[QinteQ]

I never regarded the kettle test although we all believed it in the 50's & 60's, the °C opening point is always approximate and anyway they are always designed to always fail in the 'open' position, I used a Renault five stat because it had a rolled edge and a perfect push fit into the hose [wax pellet always goes to the engine] diameter. This is my actual one but because I own a lathe I built a housing for it - just ignore the aluminium housing when you look at it. Best of luck.