Thermostat housing

iandecjak

Club Member
Looking around the engine bay I noticed that a number of the cooling hoses were getting a little wrubbery and there were signs of leaking on some of the heater hoses as well as around the thermostat hsg to engine block; nothing serious just looked like it might be if left much longer.
First thing was to source the parts. Initially I went to Rock Autos but found that it would entail three/four different suppliers which meant three/four delivery charges which just made it all a bit expensive - so over to Fleabay.
I was lucky and got the top and bottom radiator hoses and the thermostat fairly easily with the other hoses being purchased by the mtr based on sizes of what was being taken off. The only thing I couldnt get was the gasket for the thermo housing to block which I didnt think I would need.
Stripping everything down was fairly straightforward with the exception of the thermo hsg to block which is located with two bolts the rear most of which is a pain to get to even with some of the pipework removed, the MAF unit just gets in the way and I didnt want to break it down.
Anyway with the help of silicone grease on the new hoses all went back on with new St St jubilee style clips. All mating faces were cleaned and in place of the missing gasket I used blue hylomar, fitted the new thermostat and refilled with Blue antifreeze. Engine started first turn and all seemed ok; with the heater open there was a small surge of air that bubbled up through the radiator but the gauge and water levels were now steady and I thought I had cracked it.
However, at some point water began dripping from around the thermo housing to block; so engine was shut down and after much cursing was left overnight.
Next day I stripped the thermo housing down again, which still necessitated some of the pipework to be removed. I then fashioned my own gasket from 1mm high temp sheet and rebuilt it all again, supplementing my diy gasket with blue hylomar.
With baited breath I started the car and this time after a good 10/12 minute idling followed by a +10 minute run all seems to be ok.
So if you are looking to do this job yourself just beware that access is a little tight especially for the rearmost bolt and that due to the location of the assembly directly above the number one exhaust flange (even though there is a heatshield) hylomar on its own is not up to the job - valuable lessons learnt. :cool:
 
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