Hi all again,
You fix one thing, and another problem rear's it's ugly head.

Just changed water pump and thermostat (cheers for the hints Grendel) and now engine temp is much higher than it was previously (2/3rds as opposed to 1/2 way before).
It gets to 2/3 on the guage, but doesn't get any hotter, and does drop a little when on fast roads. Previously, the guage was much more dynamic, it did get hot when sitting in traffic, but would drop to about a 1/4 when on fast roads or motorways and on average, would sit comfortably around the 1/2 way mark most of the time.


Also, engine idle has risen from 850/900rpm to around 11-1200rpm, a fast idle after completing water pump/thermostat change.
The car was sitting on the drive for about 4 weeks before i changed the water pump and thermo, so i guess something could have seized up.
New coolant in the engine, and a new air filter installed, and have just forked for new plugs and a rotor arm (yet to fit though).

Any ideas? is it likely to be the Lambada or idle valve (and can i recondition the idle valve, as they're bloody expensive, about £125 online, not found cheaper).

Car is a 440 1.6Si with a B16F engine.

Want to change timing belt in near future, is it the same as the 1.8 engine, as i can't seem to find one specific to the 1.6. Ditto water pump belt. I have the air-con/ power steering model, but can't find one long enough anywhere.
And while i'm here, how do you get the cam belt cover off, can undo nuts and have tried moving power steering resevoir as advised in the Haynes manual, but it's still has no room to come out either up/down or back to front, it seems well stuck.

Any help mucho appreciated.

HI THERE.
FIRST THING IS DOES THE FAN COME ON WHEN YOU LET THE CAR IDLE?.
DOES THE HEATER WORK CORRECTLY?.
YOU MAY HAVE AN AIR LOCK IN THE SYSTEM IF SO YOU NEED TO BLLED THE AIR OUT.
ON THE TIMING BELT COVER HAVE YOU TAKEN THE SPRING CLIP OF THE TOP OF THE COVER?.
ON MY CAR THE AUXILLARY DRIVE BELT DOES THE WATER PUMP .POWER STEERING PUMP AND THE AIR CON IS A SEPERATE BELT.
THE PRICE ON A IDLE VALVE SEEMS A LITTLE HIGH TO ME YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND ONE A LOT CHEAPER THAN THAT.

Hiya,
Yeah, fan and heater work fine. I sorted the temp' problem out by just putting the old thermostat back in, just the high rev's i gotta contend with now.
I'm guessing it's the Lamba, as last years MOT it was showing up as 1.29% when 1.30% was a fail (well here's hoping anyway, it's pretty hard to find a second hand ECU for a 1995 1.6 engine). The rest of the emmisions were well within range.

Was just access for the cam cover really, my 1.6 engine has looks similar to the 2.0 litre engine, in that the manifold seems to run over the engine top front to back, and there are a couple of 'pipes, that feed into it from above the cambelt housing (Not been able to find out what these pipes are, neither the Volvo owners manual or Haynes seems to mention them...one is marked with a yellow strip, the other with a blue. Have followed them back, but they look to disappear into the dashboard housing?? puzzled.
I can get the cam cover loose, but there seems to be no movement up, down or sideways to get the d**n thing out totally. Acess will be a pain if i have to try and fit the timing belt around it, plus adjustment will be a nightmare, anyhow, fingers crossed.

They seem to be selling generic/universal 3 wire Lambada sensors on ebay for between £12 and £25 (parts for Volvo site is nearly £56 + P+P).
Are these 'cheapies' gonna be worth the time/money? or are they gonna be cheapand nasty Chinese models?.
They look fairly easy to fit, any experience of doing one?