Thermostat - Help Needed

[BRUN]

bought the thermostat and new seal today, and lots of coolant

i know where it is and i presume its fairly easy to get at, but, 2 questions

1. obviously i need to drain some coolant off before undoing it, where should i do this from ?

2. do i need any instant gasket on it, or will the normal seal be enough ?

[kj16v]

To drain the water you remove the radiator bottom hose. But I think that's too time consuming just to change the thermostat (removing the wheel, and the splash guard). I personally would just remove the thwrmostat and let the water come out. Doesn't matter so long as you refill and bleed it properly.

Yeah put some PTFE thread tape on it , and some sealant paste on the gasket. Always worthwhile

[BRUN]

ptfe tape ?

eh ?

im doing this in about an hour....

[kj16v]

Its a reel of plastic tape that you wrap around the threads. If you can't get any don't worry. It's just an extra precaution

[summeh]

just do wot i said last night mate... u cant go wrong really.

[BRUN]

ive got some PTFE tape but didnt know where you meant to use it ?

cheers Summeh

im more worried about the instant gasket tbh, i havent got a clue where to put it

hopefully it will become clear once i get it off...

[summeh]

take hoses off the stat housing
unbolt the housing
clean everything up
put gasket sealant around the mating edges of the housing
put the new stat with sealing ring in place
carefully mate up the housing with the head, insuring that the stat doesnt fall out of place
bolt it up from opposite sides a bit at a time so the gasket spreads evenly
reconnect the hoses
refill
bleed

job done.

[summeh]

the tape he is saying put on the bolt threads.... its just another way to "locktite" the threads. i didnt use any. altho if u got some copper grease put a little of that on. just stops the threads rusting and siezing in the head ;)

[BRUN]

:(

mission aborted

got 2 of the bolts out, tried another and its rounded off a bit, arse

been told to use an impact driver......so ill have to get one of those and new bolts before i have another go

:evil:

[Lunner]

Go to machine mart and you can get reverse flute cut sockets designed to remve rounded off nuts, if its rounded am impact wrench isn't gonna do it.

Soak it in Plus Gas and use a decent socket on it and it shoudl come off ok, if not use teh siockets mentioned above, woldn't bother getting an impact gun, the elecrtric ones are £10+vat from makro, about £30 from argos iirc

[MatBrown]

Will probably be Torx bolts though, just get some grips on it.



Mat.

[Lunner]

Will probably be Torx bolts though, just get some grips on it.



Mat.

Oh yeah :oops:

[BRUN]

it is torx

not gonna be able to get grips anywhere near it

[BRUN]

let me get this straight, an impact driver

i put my T30 bit on the end of it, set it right, and i just hit it with a hammer and it will start undoing the bolt ?

[Swervin_Mervin]

If you've stripped it it probably won't work Brun. I'd hammer in a slightly bigger Torx bit that you aren't arsed about.

[u33db]

No that won't work IIRC.

Get a drill and a cutting disc and grind the head off the torx bolt so you can get the thermostat housing off - once thats done you'll be able to get grips on whats left of the shaft.

[summeh]

i'd try grips on the bolt head first, then wot u33db said... between now and when u next try (a few days) keep soaking it in wd40 or plusgas. i did same on my strut tops for about a week, soaking it each night in wd40, it was locked solid when i first tried... after a week of soaking it came off first try without too much messing about.

[BRUN]

thats not a bad idea actually, cut the head off it, ill have to make sure all the others come off ok first before i do that though

ive actually ordered an impact driver, gettin it @ trade price so its worth a go and probably something worth having