Thermostat on 2.5 TDI A6

[ainarssems]

The problem with that is that weather is not getting any better/warmer any time soon an I would rather do it now then in middle of January. If I can get into garage then not much of an issue. I guess if it happens in January garages will not be too busy as people will have less money to spend after Christmas and will be easier to get space to let me in. It should not be more then 4-5 hour job maybe 6 since I will be doing it for the first time on this engine.I think I will buy thermostat to have on standby and hope for the best. If it does get stuck open it will take long time to warm up and affect fuel economy but I can cover half of radiator to reduce cooling. As long as it does not get stuck closed.

The plan was also to get the intake pipe and manifolds off when doing belts and have them blasted by crushed nut shells to remove carbon build-up from EGR now that I have blanked it off and disabled in ECU. So that's an extra expense on top of it.