Change thermostat as part of timing belt change?

[spartacus 68]

I'm going to get the timing belt and water pump done on my B8.5 2.0TDI (155PS). It's 5 years old on 42k miles.

What's everyone's thoughts on doing the thermostat too? On my old B5 Amtrak locomotive V6 the thermostat was buried deep in the engine so it was considered common practice to replace rather than risk it failing given the labour involved to strip it down.

Audi have special deal on just now during September, so all in £623 including VAT. That's timing belt, water-pump and thermostat.

[audi80forlife]

Hi! Thermostats usually are meant to last engines's lifetime, so I can't recommend to change it for sure. If you use proper antifreeze and change it regulary, the thermostat will probably never go bad. If you still want to change it, then use only the OEM part. To exchange it with some aftermarket one is not recommended. Also, can't tell you for sure how hard is to change the thermostat, but for 2.0 TDI it is probably much more easy because it is R4 engine and not a V6. The thermostat's OEM part number is 03L121113A.

[Rob69]

IIRC there's two stats on those 2 litre CR engines, one is inside a hose and one on the engine. At 5 years old I'd leave it alone unless it is an insignificant cost when rolled into that service price or you suspect it is playing up. I changed mine earlier this year on my 12 year old pd engine as it had got a bit sluggish to close and was running the engine a bit cool but it hadn't failed completely.

[spartacus 68]

Thanks for the replies. Audi were quoting £80 odd for thermostat(s)... so I'm thinking that's a hell of a thermostat, so possibly it was for the two? I'll leave well alone then given it sits at 90 degrees.

I'd only fit genuine parts regards thermostats.