Thermostat Change

layinthesmack31

Registered User
Well i went out and bought a 180 degree thermostat today and no i just need to know how difficult it will be to change. can anyone tell me the steps on how to do it cause i have done others before but not on a SC and it looks like it could be a pain in the a** to get the housing off. So i am just curious as to the best way to do it. Oh and while i have it off i am gonna finally put my 5% overdrive pulley on :) wish me luck haha cause i hear those are a pain in the a** too :) well any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks
Matt
 
It just loks harder than it is. It will be easier if you take of the sc pulley though. The hardest part will be getting the housing back on with the tstat not falling down. The best way I have found so far is to use a little silicon to hold the gasket on which will hold the tstat in place.
 
If you have a swivel joint, then you don't have to remove the sc pulley. Also, just get the thermostat from the dealer because that one locks into the housing. THe one thing most people have problems with is that the housing itself tends to warp easily so you have to make sure that it is perfectly flat and just use liberal amounts of rtv and everything should be fine.

rene
 
So whats the best way to get the SCpulley off because i have the 3 jaw puller but last time i tried to use it it started to bend the stock pulley a little. And once i got it off what is the best way to get it back on? thanks again for the help :) matt
 
I can change a t-stat in like 10 minutes as long as the coolant isn't hot. Here is the easiest way I know!!!

1. Remove upper radiator hose
2. Remove serpentine belt (18mm bolt on the tensioner)
3. Remove tensioner (18mm bolt)
4. Disconnect the temp switch (slide the connector up and off)
5. Remove bypass hose going to water pump from housing
6. Remove two bolts (13mm and 10mm if I recall)
7. Remove housing pull old t-stat out
8. Scrape gasket off housing and intake manifold
9. Put new t-stat in housing
10. Put new gasket on (or make one from gaket material)
11. Take the two mounting bolts and stick them through the
holes of the gasket
12. Start threading the bolts back in, then line up the gasket
perfect and tighten the bolts down.
13. Replace bypass hose
14. Reconnect temp switch
15. Replace upper radiator hose
16. Loosen bleeder screw on housing (13mm)
17. Fill radiator with coolant, when it starts bubbling from the
bleeder screw, tighten the screw up.
18. Replace tensioner.
19. Replace serpentine belt.
20. Loosen bleeder screw again, start engine, when coolant
over flows, tighten bleeder again. That way all air is out of
your cooling system.

You don't even need to mess with the SC pulley to change a t-stat.

To change the SC pulley do as follows:

1. Using 18mm socket, remove tension from the belt and slide
belt off SC pulley.
2. Remove the pulley retaining nut
3. Using a 3-jaw puller remove the pulley
4. Take new pulley and line it up on the shaft
5. Take a flat surface such as a book or block of wood and
place it on the front of the pulley and GENTLY tap the pulley
onto the shaft of the blower.
6. Once its on enough to get the nut to start threading, put the
nut back on and use a big breaker bar (I prefer a 2-foot) to
tighten the nut, which then applies even pressure to the
center of the pulley which will slide the pulley on evenly.
7. Tighten nut but not too tight, make sure the pulley can spin
so that its not hitting the blower. You don't need to torque
the nut down very tight, just make sure its not gonna come
loose.
8. Apply pressure on the tensioner an re-install the belt.
9. Start engine and listen to make sure blower isn't grinding
and pulley isn't moving front to back
10. Enjoy your new horse power!

Good luck, shouldn't be too hard. I just changed my t-stat the other night. You can use Permatex Blue on the t-stat gasket for added sealant.
 
I too am doing a T-stat and let me tell you it was very easy to get out as long as you have enough extentions to get to the bolts. I didn't even remove the tensioner or the SC pulley to get to it.

Although when putting it back in I took the tensioner off just to see if it helped any, and well yea it was a little easier.

If I can do it so can you. I'm 18 and can't even tell you what half the stuff under my hood is, but it's fun to learn and do.

Good luck, it's easy if a bolt doesn't break :rolleyes:


-Tim
 
well i got it out no prob but when i did i seen that the new 180 degree thermostat that i had was not the right one because it didnt have that little bleeder bearing thing like the stock one had so what i ended up doing was putting a new gasket on it and put the stock one back in since it wasnt bad and i am gonna look for a thermostat with the bearing on it. :( so i guess i did all that work for nothing but it was really easy to get out and put back togather. thanks for all the help. oh and i also changed the super charger pulley which ended up being alot easier than i planned on so i guess somethign went good haha :) i put on the 5% overdrive pulley and let me tell u the blower sounds great now :) well if anyone knows where i can get a 180 degree thermostat that has the little bearing thing please let me know :) thanks again
Matt
 
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