Firstly thanks for all your replies, i been heaps busy with work lately, anyway
If its a SI VN thermostat is at the back of the engine, VNSII - VP the thermostat is at the front. Thats what it will be. Was mine anyway. Your stat will be ceased and the ECU wont know to turn it(thermo fan) on. When its running... feel each side of the engine, one will be colder than the other as the thermostat isnt allowing coolant to pass properly.
hope it helps.
aZk.
thermostat was changed recently, i couldnt be it anyway cause as i said it got to 1 bar below HOT and didnt cut in.
Does you air con die too when this happens? cause if it does it will most likely be 1 of the relays under the bonnet cause mine done it the cooling fan went first then the aircon compressor wouldn't kick in and it was a series of a relay and fuses.
no, everything fine with air-con. the engine fan still comes on when the air-con is switched on so that rules out any fuse/relay/wiring.
Either its not plugged in or you're coolant temp sensor has had it, thats what tells the cpu when to turn the fan on.
The dash temp meter has its own sensor..
i think you have been the closest so far, the only thing is coolant temp sensor seems to be working fine, economy wise anyway. I will try to a resistance test on it today to rule it out. after i fix my fan speed switch today (so i again manually control the engine fan via aircon), i'll run it to over half temp and see if that does anything, but it didnt before so i'm not keeping my hopes up.... i did a diagnostic test and the ecu didnt show any temp sensor fault either.
thanks again for the replies.