thermo

[av6xperience]

wuts up guys, im a pretty new member and i recently got one on fbody.com as well however i like this site better so far. i was wondering how do you go about changing out the thermostat, might be a stupid question and i might already know lol but im not sure. ive got the 96 3.8. thanks for any help

[BobbyZ72]

Re: thermo

its easy, pull the old one out, put the new one in, run the car for a while, and top off the coolant. What part of houston are you in, im in SW.

[av6xperience]

Re: thermo

nw, spring. is it in the radiator? i haven't even bothered to check being as lazy as i am.

[97rs4life]

Re: thermo

right on the upper intake on drivers side. Right on top. When done, bleed the system with the little screw by the thermo housing to get air out.

[borispeed]

Re: thermo

When I did it, drained some coolant before to replace the thermostat, according to Hanes. Is that a must?

[StrtRacer98]

Re: thermo

This is a pretty nice write up, go to this website and read up.. makes it pretty easy.

http://www.angelfire.com/my/fastcar/powerstat.html

[av6xperience]

Re: thermo

appreciate it. that link explained everything

[slow6]

Re: thermo

When I did it, drained some coolant before to replace the thermostat, according to Hanes. Is that a must?

No

Just remember to bleed it good(you have to wait till it gets up to the temp rating of the thermo or higher).
Make sure you put the o-ring Around the thermo. The o-ring actually fits on it. Dont over tighten the screws, its very easy to do. Aluminum is Weak!

[bah]

Re: thermo

be sure you get the i think they called it water outlet gasket, the gasket between the 2 metal things the thermostat is between, napa failed to mention that one to me when i bought my thermo, they did however sell me that o-ring, carquest got my buisness when i bought the gasket

[Nikos95]

Re: thermo

Just because I have to ask, I was told in some cars pulling the radiator cap wont actually bleed the system of air... Didn't make too much sense to me but sure... I have a '95 3.4, and I have clean new coolant, good thermistat, and good radiator, I overheated the other day when my belt flew off, not too bad but bad enough, and now I'm having some fairly bad heat problems standing still.. No leaks. So I figure I might have gotten myself some air when it boiled. Even overheated with the fan hot-wired unless I'm driving at least 50-60mph.

Can I bleed it with the cap off, or is there an actual bleeder like you were saying on the 3.8?

[slow6]

Re: thermo

Just because I have to ask, I was told in some cars pulling the radiator cap wont actually bleed the system of air...

Can I bleed it with the cap off, or is there an actual bleeder like you were saying on the 3.8?

If you open the radiator cap, that will let air into your cooling system.
Air in the system will create heat in the system.
The bleeder valve is on the waterneck/thermostat housing itself. You gotta let the car get up past the temp of the thermo (160 / 180 / 195 / whatever)
so the thermo will open then you can open the bleeder valve and air will come out until its just water running out. You have to have the radiator cap on through out this.

[Nikos95]

Re: thermo

Okay now that makes sense, thanks a ton I'm going to run outside and do that right now!

[Nikos95]

Re: thermo

Saw a small 10mm bolt right off the passanger side of the thermistat housing there. Figured that was the bleeder, ran it for a bit, and now I stay cool with my fan running I stayed around 170-180ish standing still for 30 minutes, and its about 90 outside :) So I'm happy! Thanks again.

[slow6]

Re: thermo

Saw a small 10mm bolt right off the passanger side of the thermistat housing there. Figured that was the bleeder,

thats not it, it should be a gold screw sticking right out at ya.