Just back from a decent jaunt...

[Mr Cod]

I'm nearly a year into Aston ownership, my lovely 2006 v8v having not put a foot wrong in 3,000 miles

Just back from a 700 mile round trip to the lake district and a couple of niggles have cropped up en route that I could do with some advice on.

First one - the coolant gauge has always read half way within 10 minutes of starting and has always stayed that way. On my drive back today (steady at 70 down the m6 for about 100 miles) I noticed that it was only about a third of the way? 20 minutes of roadworks going at 45 and it went back to half way, but as soon as I went back to 70 and dropped it down into 6th, again the temperature dropped down to about a third. Dodgy thermostat do you think or is this normal (and I just haven't noticed it before)?

Second one - three or so of the leds in the centre brake light have gone. Is this a self repair or do I need to take it in? Manual seems to suggest the latter.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Mr Cod]

Thanks guys.

Yeah had a look at the faq about the thermostat (and the very detailed replacent instructions!) but wasn't sure whether a bit of movement was normal or whether it should stay horizontal 100% of the time.

[Mr Cod]

Thank you.