I’ve installed Borg Wagner thermostats and those always failed until I installed a Mahle one which never failed. For some reason any other brand will get stuck open and the engine will never get up to temp.
I used Mahle, but I got lucky I got the German-made one (afaik now most are made in Italy). It was NOS so I expect the electrical heater (to open early) to be defect. It's been 3 years without issue though.
I used oem bmw coolant and a mahle thermostat.
I only use Gates now after some cheap ones failed but didn't leak. Gates are very good. I have not had to replace one.
Mahle is an OE supplier for bmw, go for it
I had a brand new mahle one with the connector wired in reverse for constant. Kept blowing a fuse. Returned it for a replacement and worked fine.
Mahle is an OEM supplier and is on stock in Amazon.
Hatte auch schon ein Mahle Thermostat das kurz nach eimbau defekt war. Dannach ein Originales von BMW rein und seit dem wi3der keine Probleme.
I installed a Gates one a couple months back and it worked well for a little while; engine got up to operating temp fairly quickly and stayed there, but now it’s running really cold no matter how long or how hard I drive it. Think it’s stuck open.
Last week changed the thermostat on my 1.9 tdi 66kW to a Mahle TX 15 87D (11€), it was fine for the first two days, then the temps started dropping again.
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If choosing thermostat across many manufacturers, check the part ranking. If your choice is down to two brands, the PartReview part comparisons help.
We compare thermostat across these categories:
In March 2026 on PartReview, thermostat Gates were overall better than Mahle.
Thermostat Mahle and Gates were equally popular according to data in March 2026.
By vote balance, thermostat Gates surpassed Mahle:
By number of reviews, thermostat Mahle surpassed Gates:
In March 2026, according to PartReview, these manufacturers led the same number of car-specific ratings:
Mahle are chosen by owners of cars such as: Jeep Grand Cherokee, and others.
Gates are chosen by owners of cars such as: Dodge RAM, and others.
If this comparison didn’t fully answer your question, there are many others on PartReview.
For example, comparisons of thermostat Mahle with: MotoRad, Wahler, OEM Volkswagen, OEM Mazda, MOPAR, MISHIMOTO, OEM BMW, OEM Nissan, OEM Audi, Duralast.
Also available: comparisons of thermostat Gates with: MotoRad, Wahler, OEM Volkswagen, OEM Mazda, MOPAR, MISHIMOTO, OEM BMW, OEM Nissan, OEM Audi, Duralast.
You can also see who is better among other thermostat manufacturers: Wahler or MotoRad, OEM Volkswagen or MotoRad, Mahle or MotoRad, OEM Mazda or MotoRad, MOPAR or MotoRad.
