Thermostat Install
Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,781
Likes: 1
From: Central NY
not really but the thermostat can "fall out of place" when you try to put it all back together and it wont seal worth beans.
What I do is take the housing off and clean it up. Remove all old gasket material usinig a putty knife, give it a light sand, wet wipe it to remove any residue, and dry it off. Put a skim coat of rtv sealant on the outter circular area where the gasket is to go, drop in the thermostat, line up the gasket holes and press it firmly into place. (The gasket will eventually hold the thermostat in the housing during reassembly) Then I go clean up the intake end real nice and by the time I'm done, the rtv has cured enough to hold it all together while I reassemble.
Cheers,
Popa Tim
ps - if you haven't gotten it apart yet, one of the bolts is tuff to get to without the right length wrench. I *think* I used a shorty 1/2" but its been over a year and don't recall 100%... you know what they say about your memory and getting old... what was I saying?
What I do is take the housing off and clean it up. Remove all old gasket material usinig a putty knife, give it a light sand, wet wipe it to remove any residue, and dry it off. Put a skim coat of rtv sealant on the outter circular area where the gasket is to go, drop in the thermostat, line up the gasket holes and press it firmly into place. (The gasket will eventually hold the thermostat in the housing during reassembly) Then I go clean up the intake end real nice and by the time I'm done, the rtv has cured enough to hold it all together while I reassemble.
Cheers,
Popa Tim
ps - if you haven't gotten it apart yet, one of the bolts is tuff to get to without the right length wrench. I *think* I used a shorty 1/2" but its been over a year and don't recall 100%... you know what they say about your memory and getting old... what was I saying?
Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 6,473
Likes: 4
From: Lafayette, IN
I use a deep offset box-end wrench for the one tricky bolt. I also learned here at FTE that the thermostat can be twist-locked into the housing, which holds it in place during reassembly. Previously, I had always used the yellow, high-tack gasket sealant on the gasket and let it dry for an hour or so to hold the thermostat in the housing before I reassembled it.
Jason
Jason
