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couple of quick questions about tstats

pontiacgp759

pontiacgp759

New member
first off. my car engines temp always hovers around the bottom of the guage and my heater blows room temperature heat. is this a bad thermostat causing this? I always thought a bad tstat meant that the car overheats? Also how hard is it to change the thermostat? I would like to get it done in a couple hours if possible as I may possibly be selling my gp this weekend.
Thanks guys.
 


Well my Thermostat just took a crap on me and threw a "Service Engine Soon" light. A thermostat is either closed or open. I think when it's open you get not so warm heat, as I was getting.


Replacing the Thermostat is not that bad. PFYC has a nice writeup on how to do it. I did it in about 15-25 minutes?.. and it was my first time.
 
Yea it was pretty low to tell you the truth. Lower then usual. The guy at autozone told me that's what happens when the thermostat is stuck open, because the car is constantly getting cooled. Better to have it open then closed where your car would start to overheat. I went out and got a failsafe thermostat that if "fails" stays open and never closed, therefore eliminating the possibility of overheating.
 
A thermostat can fail open or closed. If it fails open, that would drive temperatures lower. And the temperature gauge will move depending on how the thermostat failed, how the car is being driven and ambient temperature. Besides, it is a $10 part that a blind man could change in 30 minutes. Either change it or not, it isn’t rocket science.:th_jester:
 


make sure u "burp" the air outta the coolant system. theres a bolt on top of the t-stat housing to do this. get a 180* and ur done.
 


badbrad said:
make sure u "burp" the air outta the coolant system. theres a bolt on top of the t-stat housing to do this. get a 180* and ur done.
Click to expand...

I am not sure how you are suppose to use this bolt on top of the t-stat housing.
​
Can you elaborate on this??? I don't have a manual for this car yet...:th_scratchhead:
 
you take a flat head screw driver and turn the brass bolt on top of the housing counter clockwise until the air bubbles stop "bubbling" out and you have a constant flow of coolant coming out of the valve. when this happens, turn the valve clockwise until tight. wait until the car is warmed up for about 15 minutes before doing this.
 
Well this was my first T-Stat change in my car, so this part really confused me (burping the coolant from the T-Stat) This is what I did. The screw on the T-Stat housing comes off with a 7mm ratchet, maybe a flat head screwdriver too, but I don't remember. When the car is off, just take the screw off. Then start the car and wait for a little bit. Watch the hole and it should start spewing a little bit of coolant. This is when you shut the car off and put the screw back on. I had my brother on the keys and me watching the hole. Just put the screw back in and your done.

That's what I did and it worked :D
 
OK Guys;
Thanks for the info. I was a bit confused when I read about the screwdriver because there is no slot for a screwdriver on mine. It looks like 2 different size hex heads. I'll try the removing when cold method if the old fashion method don't work; I burped from the radiator cap itself...
 
NoTyme said:
OK Guys;
Thanks for the info. I was a bit confused when I read about the screwdriver because there is no slot for a screwdriver on mine. It looks like 2 different size hex heads. I'll try the removing when cold method if the old fashion method don't work; I burped from the radiator cap itself...
Click to expand...

This.

common for the bleeder valve to become clogged.

MAKE SURE YOU DO BLEED IT PROPERLY.

Then check it again after going for a nice 30 min drive while watching the temp gauge.
 


matt5112 said:
check it again after going for a nice 30 min drive while watching the temp gauge.
Click to expand...

I did drive down to a local car wash to spray off the section of engine where some of the anti-freeze leaked and I could see the temp gauge actually working. About 8 mile drive and I did function several times during the drive. It would slide up just over 180 and then slide down to about 165 or so... Just taking a good guess at the number... Lots of heat again...

I apologize for high-jacking pontiacgp759's thread.
 
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The proper thing to do would be letting it cool down and popping off the rad cap to see if the rad's still full. If so, you're good granted the temp guage stays mostly consistent.
 
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