I can now report that the second thermostat and partial blockages to radiator grill of air intake to coolant radiator (not engine air intake) has resulted in a much faster warmup, similar to petrol. The engine/coolant temperature gauge stays consistently just below the half-way mark. My own temp. gauge fitted to cylinder head climbs more slowly. The heater is very much more efficient as commented upon by a passenger. However, the mpgUK figure is disappointing, being nowhere near its figure of 34mpgUK in summer weather. In fact it's more like 30mpgUK in this colder weather.
I shall have to look into this mpg further.

Leedsman.

 

HiYa Leedsman,

Most good UK 2.8's get around 33/34 MPG, many don't get anywhere near a consistent 33MPG. I'm not sure if I ever expected the mod to improve on my average 33+MPG - but I am sure both you and I will benefit from the 20%[ish] drop in MPG we would expect from the first 15 minutes cold running when the weather drops to ≡ ≈ 5°C. My brother used to have a brand new Ford Galaxy MPV on a 2.2 that at £32+ used to get take around 30 minutes to even be able to use the demister, and if he parked up to long waiting for her indoors coming out of the bingo the engine cooled so much he had to turn the fan blower off or his pins froze.

I'm confident we will both see a much reduced warm-up time and a noticeably mitigated diesel running costs over the next 5 UK weather months. This will very particularly applies to me as an infrequent user who travels only 15 miles in one go twice each week.

 

I'm getting no where near that mpg! Dispite using Shell V-Power derv and using BG244 in the tank and Archoil 6200 fuel additive��

23.4mpg round town!!! Motul 100% synth 5w-30 oil with Archoil 9200 additive. New air/ fuel filter and MAF cleaned! What am I missing guys?��������

 

One thing of interest temp-wise I've noticed, with both this GV and the diesel Jag. before; if I drive off from home in the usual way, but 5mins. later I have to park to go into a shop/shops, both temp. gauges show the coolant temp. has continued to rise, when I return, even tho' the engine is switched off! I put this down to there being no watercoolant pump at engine-off, but this is just a guess.

Timmy-tim; that low-ish mpg figure could be --
1) Type of journey. The worst is short trips when cold. My daughter has a 1.9 diesel Vectra-matic Vauxhall, and in cold weather and short journeys returned only about 23mpgUK. However on a long journey to Wales and back, she got over 50mpgUK. I had previously instructed her in the art of monitoring fuel consumption by the brim-brim method.
2) Style of driving. To get even half-way decent mpg figures, you're almost obliged to adopt hypermiling techniques. I've been driving that way now for years so it's second nature. I don't worry about "pressing on" while driving. I discovered during that tanker drivers strike of about 15 years ago that John Prescott was right in his remark "sometimes if you drive slower, you get there faster". As everyone on my work journey was doing 40mph instead of the usual near 80, I was getting to work in 12 minutes by driving slower, not the usual 15. Ok, it's counter-intuitive, but the simple facts were there. Maybe it was something to do with traffic lights.
3) Sometimes you find that individual cars are just plain thirsty, when other identical ones are not. It seems to be 1000 and 1 little things that contribute to poor fuel consumption, such as a little bit of brake binding, slightly low tyre pressures, too much junk inside, a lot of traffic lights on most of your usual journeys, speed bumps (yes!), anything that causes you to have to use your brakes (loss of kinetic energy, to be replaced by burning fuel).

To be fair to diesels, in the petrol versions of this GV., I would not expect better than about 15mpgUK as an average. Remember Jeremy Clarkson's NINE mpgUK in and around London from a petrol Range-Rover?

Especially if you're a moderate user, not many miles per week, your fuel costs aren't going to be your biggest cost per annum. Depreciation and insurance will easily outstrip fuel costs. Now we have the looming factor of economic write-off with older cars due to ridiculous parts cost. Eg., piezo-electric injectors. Say what you like about the older clattery passive injectors, they didn't cost £600 to £1000 EACH to replace!
Diesel Golf drivers please note...

Leedsman.

 

Thanks for the pictures and advices Leedsman, thanks to QinteQ also.
I will look into it for my car and swedish weather.
Im parking outside and it gets very snowy here, I will report the results for warming quicker.

I cant measure mileage (km per liter) because I dont have meters on my instrument cluster (it only shows total km and trip when resetting after full tanking).
I have started winterizing with silicon spray in keyholes and the rubber/epdm door sealings.
I will also post pictures from my trunk with car EDC ( a tips for everyone who has children ).

 

Jgb, you should post some of your methods of winterizing. Someone from Sweden will have a few tips for us...That siliconizing on the rubber door seals when we had minus 15*C here a few years ago would have been useful. I couldn't get my door open then, and I had to pour boiling water down the door cracks just to get in!

Leedsman.

 

Leedsman , you are absolutly right , I will post some explanation and pictures. Need some time (have many tools in the car after the failure with changing timebelt, couldnt get first pulley off) and hopefully soon.

 

Some say it rots seals I've never had that problem, door & boot seals since the 60's, readily available, I keep one in the glove box and any soddin thing from a screw or wheel stud, big bolt's or wiper or battery turrets gets a thin smear. For those who believe it does rot seals use this silly-spay for locks and such like the belt & braces approach but don't buy it from ebay - avoid the fake stuff.

jgb's location should have 'snoflake' stamped tyres and winter-grade anti-waxing diesil available that will work down to -35°C.

The design of the parking / rear brake backplate means ingress of salt from UK roads clogs up big style the self adjuster. I did mine myself [gave the moving bits a welly with copperslip spray] this year, its a lousy pedestrian 1950's design - just be wary of the anount of salt & ice than can pack inside and rust till Easter.

 

Just an interesting note...
I was walking past my local petrol/diesel/LPG service station in Harehills Rd., and right in front of me were the prices. Out came my pocket calculator to work out the gallons cost and...
Unleaded petrol; exactly £6 per gallonUK.
LPG (propane); exactly £3 per gallonUK.

Looks like my son was right when he kept rabbiting on about LPG being even cheaper to run than diesel.
If you buy an LPG car, look for the highest compression ratio you can find. LPG will support as high as 12:1, although you'll only find that in some of the old american muscle-cars such as the Boss Mustang when 5-star petrol was available. I had an XJ6 3.2ltr. petrol but running on LPG (compression ratio 10.5:1) and could not find any difference at all between petrol and LPG, except the cost-effective mpgUK was 32mpgUK around Leeds and 44mpgUK on the motorway.

Leedsman.

 

Another interesting fact about thermostats --
It appears they are organized to latch wide open (and stay that way) if there has been overheating beyond a predetermined temperature.

So....
If you have had any overheating (in my case caused by a blocked radiator, one of those aluminium ones) it's HIGHLY LIKELY your 'stat. is stuck wide open.
Strong case here to do something about it while you're fixing the overheating problem. Like testing it in boiling water to see it opens and closes as it should.

Leedsman.