I totally sympathise with anybody gifted with the task of replacing a KV6 thermostat.Simply put "What a rubbish design and material" The designer of this must have either been on serious drugs, or tasked with creating one of the most stupid designs gifted to an engine.
I have been gifted with 2 to do so far, and happily they went ok-ish.
The first went to plan and drove away happily with no issues.
The second one needed an bit more fettling, both kits were procured from X-Part dealer in Sandy, and were mostly up to a good standard. Be warned there is a lack of washer for the temperature sensor, so worth considering sourcing a new one as a seperate entity. The second one had a very small leak from the block port side, this had been cleaned to a polished state prior to fitting, this may have been a contribution to the coolant leak out and contraction of air during cooling down, in turn causing pressure in the cooling system making temperatures vary considerably. The cure was to remove the whole lot again, and re-fit using limited amounts of ptfe tape and a very small trace of sealanton to the seals. This fortunately worked very well with no ill effects whatsoever.
The cooling system behaved perfectly from then on, and with all 190 engines that are fit and healthy- put a smile on my face every time it went out.
I also agree that there seems to be a huge array of really poor quality parts on the market now, and tempting to save the wallet from suicide, but simply dont do it as it is likely to bite you back !
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