Tstat Troubles

My wife has been complaining about the very low level of heat in the Miata lately. Drove it the other night and while at a steady state cruise the temperature guage acually dropped off the scale and the heater was blowing almost ice cold. So obviously its either a tstat stuck open or entirely missing.::Rant::

Put in a replacement today and here is what I found.

http://www.hudsonhawk.net/tstat1.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/tstat2.jpg

The metal pin actually kept the valve from closing. So the engine never got up to operating temperature. Better then it being stuck closed. I am guesing the pin is from the t-stat itself. I can't even imagine where it would have come from inside the engine otherwise.:(

Heater works much better now. :D

Miatae are infamous for eating t-stats. Not sure why though.

Make sure you put that same type (failsafe type) back in. Since these cars eat tstats you want the better type.

RJ

Good news is that was the last piece of the cooling system that had not been replaced with brand new in the past year. water pump, hoses (including heater), Radiator and now the t-stat. Hopefully won't have any problems with it for a while.