out of interest, where does your thermal gauge normally sit during operation - as in what does it read? mine rarely gets above 1/3 thru the gauge, and the fan will come on if it reaches 1/2 way thru, leading me to believe the gauge is reading a little low rather than the thermostat being too open.. what about your cars?

secondly - econometers - how fast do yours move? mine is very slow to react to anything, almost as if its been damped - it will move no faster than the fuel gauge does, even when ignition is turned on/off. i've recently managed to make mine read 'lower' on the scale by removing some of the piping which feeds it, which had collapsed - i managed to get it to nearly touch ultimate economy the other day by driving down a big hill @ 70 in 3rd (foot off the gass).

For the thermal gauge, 2 possibilities:

with my B14, the needle must be in the middle when the engine is warm, just below the red led with the VDO instrument panel, and you can hear the fan when it's a little bit more than the middle.

with my B200, the needle doesn't move so far because the engine gets warm slower than a 1.4

These are the normal values, so i think you have a problem with your gauge.

My econometer moves definitly fast, look at this video with my ex-GLT (divx codec mandatory)

http://aymat.free.fr/econometer.avi

My temp gauge sits straight up after about 5 minutes...and you've gotta work pretty hard to make it move!

I think you've all heard me say what the econmeters are supposed to do (move FAST)! If yours moves slowly and the pipe is clear....its probably broken, or in need of adjustment (not recommended!). And we know what happens if we try to adjust it, right Hugh?!

cheers

James