Just a quick question regarding what some of you have paid to have your thermostat replaced. I just got a quote for 750.00 from a independent seems a little off since the part is right on the front of the motor and the cost for the entire housing is under 200.00

 

I had mine done last October. Cost: $769 all in incl. tax. Breakdown: $387 Labor and $325 Parts (approx. $250 for thermostat and housing, $25 for Coolant, $50 for "repair consumables" and $8 for HazMat disposal, $50 for tax.)
This is at a very high end shop with lots of perks (free vehicle pick-up drop off in an enclosed trailer, etc.) so I don't expect it to be a budget repair.

So my $769 is right around your estimate.

 

Depending on where you are in DC, I'd recommend calling Coho Auto in Manassas. They aren't cheap, but they are honest, competent and should be able to give you a quote over the phone.

 

By memory it's roughly a 3hr job

 

If you have the sales receipt do us all a favour and list the part numbers for the thermostat and housing please?

 

MarkyUK,

Sorry, my receipt doesn't have any part numbers on it. Shouldn't be too hard to find as there are numerous threads on this forum about the thermostat and thermostat housing.

Cheers,

Peter

 

My 08 4.2 was around $700 total IIRC. I think the part was <$200 but it was a lot of work to get to it.

 

 

Am in Essex in two weeks...will pop around for you to do mine

 

Yes, not a horrible job unless the plastic broke apart and then it's miserable. Also note you can siphon enough coolant out of the reservoir with the front of the car lifted to do the job without losing any.

 

I used a local independent Jag specialist and it cost me $604 including tax. I had it done 2 weeks ago.

Ken

 

IIRC, the thermostat plus housing cost me about $135, and maybe $50 for coolant (I drained it all, as I didn't know how long it had been since the previous coolant replacement).
Did it myself, but I took my time, over a couple days I think. I didn't replace the plastic pipe from the engine block to the rest of the housing, as that would require removing more 'stuff', and the existing pipe looked ok.

 

first on older engines I never replace just the thermostat. too many times doing this the cover comes apart later that holds the t stat and or the housing that seals the cooling system side to side also breaks internally and will cause overheating later. and then you get the "I thought you fixed my car now its overheating" as techs we are or should be recommending repairs that are more robust for issues we know can come up and doing it cheap for the customer by only doing the t stat by itself does no one a favor. And not replacing the neck when doing the job is very foolish because they crack all the time and leak. AND since I'm in that area and doing half the labor I also quote the heater hose under the intake that goes to the throttle body. I like to do good knowledgeable repairs and I will explain to anyone why I recommend what I do as I just did here. After all when I had a bad t stat on my 04 VDP I replaced everything I just recommended that you do. And for your quote in a major metro area, seems very reasonable to me.

 

Is there any other things that go to the housing that I should have replaced too? like any seals or o-rings/gaskets? that go with it?

 

The t stat housing includes the o rings, and since youre in the neighborhood i would pull the intake off and replaced the throttle body hose under intake since it is a big leaker. And replace the intake gaskets and the orings between the upper(plastic) and lower (aluminum) pieces as theyre vacuum leakers. Theyre not avail from jaguar but land rover. When i did the t stat housing on my 04 i did all of this and a new drive belt

 

Maybe a dumb question but how does one know a thermostat needs replacing?

 

 

+1 on what Patrick and Brutal mentioned.

If you get DTC P0128 (Coolant Temperature Below Thermostat Regulating Temperature), which usually means the thermostat sealing o-ring has failed and coolant is bypassing the thermostat. Do not just change the thermostat and o-ring. Change the entire water outlet assembly and change the coolant as well. The water outlet on the normally aspirated 4.2 litre can only withstand a finite number of cold to hot to cold cycles before failing.

 

A thermostat is a device that regulates the coolant temperature in you car by opening and allowing coolant to go to the radiator to be cooled or closing and not allowing it to go to the radiator. The thermostat itself is a cylinder filled with a liquid that expands and contracts with temperature changes, pushing open or closed a valve. They can fail open or fail closed or sometimes somewhere in between. If fail closed, the car will overheat. This is the worst way for the thermostat to fail and can quickly cause engine damage. Since we don't have temperature gauges, this is hard to know until the idiot light comes on, which can be too late. If it fails open, the engine will not come up to the proper temperature either at all or it will take a long time. This condition is most easily noticed by your heater not getting very warm. This is the best way for the thermostat to fail because it does not cause engine damage. If it fails somewhere in between it is harder to diagnose, but you will have one of the two problems above, just less severe.