the thermostat cooling flaps on the engine that has the spring fed cross bar, how do you know if the flaps are open or closed? Is there a way to determine this, i still have the spring fed bar attached but no cable.
It seems like when I move the bar back and let it go, there is a thug, as if the doors are closing,
are they permanently open?

Thanks
Tom

They're designed so that when the cable breaks they spring open.

Look where the cable attaches to the bar, there's a bracket there (on the drivers side). If that bracket is pointing straight up at the sky the flaps are open. If the bracket is pointing towards the rear of the car the flaps are closed. The flap's bar travels about 90 degrees between open and closed.

The thump you hear when you let the bracket go is the passenger side flap closing down on the trailing edge of the oil cooler duct. This routes maximum airflow through the oil cooler when the engine has warmed up. Some air continues to pass over this flap to the passenger side cylinders and the same happens on the drivers side. This is the fail safe position. If you run the engine like this it will take a little longer to warm up the oil.

When the engine is cold the passenger side flap is lifted off the trailing edge of the oil cooler duct and most of the air flowing through the passenger side duct flows past the oil cooler to the cylinders. This lets the oil warm up faster.