Thermostat replacement

[g_man1972]

I have a new thermostat in hand, for those who have done it did you have to drain your rad, engine or both, or neither? I haven't tried yet, but I imagine that when you unscrew the plug at the bottom of the rad or block it is hard to plug it up again after draining a little without it going everywhere. I don't have a garage so I will be doing it on a hilly street and don't want to make a mess on the road/sewer drains. Or can you do it without draining?

Thanks a bunch

[MardyDelica]

Hi, you need to drain it,
cannot do it without draining the water, but only haft way, no need to drain all the way, hope this help,
Cheers;
Mardy

[g_man1972]

Thanks Mardy

I just found out that the thermostat is on the lower rad hose, not the upper like I assumed. So that makes my question pretty foolish doesn't it:-)
Well as long as you learn something every day it's a good day.

[MardyDelica]

your welcome, its my pleasure to help you:
Cheers;
Mardy

[g_man1972]

So how the heck do you get at this thing? Removed the drivers seat and the panel underneath. I didn't totally remove it as couldn't figure out how to disconnect the gas door cable and was scared it would be hard to feed through again, but anyway I could see easy enough. Started unscrewing the turbo, luckily caught myself, same shape as a thermostat housing, but much more solid metal. Then I tried to find the real one, way down buried beneath the power steering(?) pump. How much of the engine do you have to take apart before you can get at it? Not much room in there thats for sure.

[MardyDelica]

Hi, the easy way is to remove the driver seat.
then from there you can see it all.
hope you fix it,
cheers;
Mardy

[ccautos]

The cable has to be unhooked from the release lever . The lever has to be removed (two screws) from the panel to enable it to be unhooked . Once the panel is removed from under the seat is is eaasier to remove the power steering pump to gain full access to the thermostat housing . Should only take about 1 hour to replace and rebuild everything .

[g_man1972]

Okay thats where I got stuck was the power steering pump. I had to put it all together again as I had to drive yesterday, so I cant see it, do I just unbolt it then bolt it up again or is there more too it than that?

Thanks again

[ccautos]

Just remove the pump and swing it out of the way . We use a bungy to hold it up . You do not need to disconnect any lines to the pump just the mounting bolts . Thanks , Glen

[g_man1972]

Well just for fun I thought I would share my experience with you guys so you can laugh at me.

Everything was going great, got to the thermostat housing and thats when things got tricky. I just couldn't get to the left side bolt, I must have struggled for 20 minutes trying to get it off with a ratchet, probably would have been easier if I had a wrench but alas, and with it all disassembled no way to get one. I tried to remove the steering pump bracket, that didn't work, started considering just pulling all the hoses to get more room, but was afraid I would bust something. Kept at it and finally got her loose, a smile on my face. Pried out the thermostat and out came the gushing of coolant, crap, that shouldn't have been there if the thermostat was stuck open (rad was already drained). Got the pan underneath just as the waterfall of glycol was slowing and I had a river of it running down my street.

Sure enough check the thermostat and it looks fine, crap says I. Take it inside put it boiling water, opens up nicely, double crap. Well I figure at least I can put in the new one and save myself from having to do this for years... nope, wrong one. The part number on the Wiki is wrong, stant 13398 is way bigger and therefor useless. So I sit on the grass and stare into space for a few minutes saying why why why, before I start putting it together again.

Got the housing on fine this time, but it was the steering pumps turn to turn my knuckles bloody and bring me to tears. Just couldn't get the left hand bolt lined up right (what is it with the left hand bolts today) Or I would get it in, then find that the right side pully had moved and the belt was too tight to move it so I couldn't get the right one in, then I would get the right side in and I wouldn't be able to get the left side lined up, must have done this 4 times. Finally get that done and try to put the panel back on, ha! It was like it changed size or something couldn't get the holes to line up, at this point I was just hitting it with my open palm trying to move it. I took it off and put it on again yesterday with no problems,so I don't get it, checked and checked again if there were any obstructions and couldn't find anything. Anyway finally got it back on and I don't think I will ever be opening it up again.

Total time spent 3 1/2 hours to put the same thermostat back in and make zero improvements. A day I would like to live over again. Just not a good day for doing work I guess, the universe was against me. Oh yea, also I forgot to tighten the rad butterfly, so when I started putting the coolant that I had scavenged back in, out onto my already soaked street it went. Many, many paper towels used today. Never had a worse day working on a vehicle, and it's not like I haven't before.

On a technical note, the reason for me wanting to change my thermostat was because of all the discussion that the temp needle should be around the quarter mark, or as said on the bottom of the lowest wavy line. Well mine rarely goes above the thiner line above the C, never seen it even get close to the wavy lines. Lesson learned, do more investigation before assuming there is a problem. Another thing is that I have a fan which is belt driven so it's on all the time, I think I have read that people have electric fans that click on when the temp is right, or am I thinking of something else?

Well hopefully you found my saga entertaining, I know what time it is now... Beer time
Venting over
Cheers

[konadog]

Damn, if that mechanical struggle story isn't something I could have written - I've lived through many a similar epic and can totally relate, which is why I am VERY selective about the projects I will tackle. Changing the oil, rotating tires and filling up the wiper fluid is close to my limit and even those simple jobs have the potential to turn into ordeals Thank God (and Glen and the crew too!) ccautos is there to do the rest. Thanks for sharing your story g_man1972

[g_man1972]

I'm with you Konadog, I don't think I am going to tackle any projects for a long time, CVI now on speed dial. To think I was there on Friday and asked how much it would be to do it, ~$140, naw I'll do it myself, should be a snap, ha ha. Well the good part is that I can laugh at it now, although it's probably the tasty beer.

I hope I'm not alone, man these things are awkward to work on.
Take care
Gary

[Schwa]

the electric fans are for the other rads - oil, tranny and A/C... mechanical fan for coolant.

[Green1]

The part number on the Wiki is wrong, stant 13398 is way bigger and therefor useless

I can't vouch for the part number, however the new one I just put in was quite a bit larger than the old one that came out... and that's a good thing, it works much better now!

[g_man1972]

Hmmm I wonder then. I figured it was too big when I compared them both side by side, big size difference and it wouldn't fit in the slot as the original one did. Like the original one disappears when you join the two parts of the housing together, this one was visible, could see the flange (?) between the two pieces of housing. Maybe I was wrong and it would have worked with two gaskets... well I'm not going to find out, at least until my fingers and knuckles return to their previously designed state .

Thanks for the input on the fans, now I understand.
Cheerio
Gary