Engine temp at idle?

[JimG]

I assume, that just like my car, that it should be able to heat up to operating temperature at idle, right? After reading about the 'flow restrictor' in the FAQ, I wnet ahead and restored the lead in my thermostat inlet, but I drilled it out to 7/32 (quite a bit more than the suggested 1/8), since I didn't want to force a mandatory engine flush or other overheat problem, at least not now.

Anyway, my thermostat tested good (although I suppose the spring could be tired), I reinstalled, and the temp would nudge the needle, but wouldn't get on the scale (100deg). The block was not too hot to keep your hand on, even after 20 minutes of idling and a little bit of motoring against the dock lines.
Our seawater is right at 50deg.

I guess I can remove the lead completely and see what happens. I'll eventually get the check valve kit, but not until there's a good chance it has something to do with the problem.

I can manually open the thermostat with my fingers - I don't think the one in my car has that "light" a spring...

[Don Moyer]

JimG,

I would definitely remove the restriction from within your by-pass loop. Universal only recommended that procedure when the cooling passages within the block and head were partially blocked, in which case a little artificial head loss in the bypass loop would force a little more flow through the "T" fitting in the water jacket plate.

Don

[JimG]

Removing the restriction entirely fixed my problem. It now runs nicely at 140 (and the oil pressure has increased) although I haven't tried a long cruise. I'm a little puzzled why an engine rebuilder (about 250 hrs ago, per the PO) would leave the restrictor in place when it wasn't needed or wanted. I guess he wasn't that familiar with A4s...