I drained the radiator so that I could change out the fluid. I popped out a
few of the snaps that hold the cover below the radiator and pulled it back.
The petcock was surprisingly easy to open and the little hose was a nice
surprise too, it worked well. I used a little pump to empty all the fluid
out of the reservoir tank that I could get, and refilled it with new 50/50
antifreeze.
I disconnected the neg cable from the battery, and took out the bolt holding
the support bar that goes from the two compressor lines to the intake. I
loosened the other end and swung the bar out of the way. I did not loosen
anything else nor did I remove the belt. I took out the two 1/2" bolts
holding the housing and fished them out with a mechanics magnet. I pulled
the housing out and left it attached to the hose. I removed the old
thermostat, and stuffed an old washcloth into the hole so I could clean the
old gasket away. I then used a shop vac to suck out all the stuff around
the thermostat hole. Then I cleaned the surface of the housing, dropped in
the new thermostat, and reinstalled the new gasket with sealer. Then I put
some sealer on the housing and lowered it back down carefully. I put a
small dab of silicone on each housing bolt and it just stuck into the deep
socket so I could put them back from whence they came. Put the support bar
bolt back, and tightened both ends of it, closed the petcock, put the cover
back, and put in some new 50/50 fluid. I left the cap off for a minute
while I ran it to get the air out. I topped off the res tank and took it
for a drive. I checked for leaks, none. I adjusted the fan to a warmer
setting, and checked the overflow tank again. Shut it down, changed the
oil, and checked the radiator and tank once again. Its warming up better
but I still feel it should be running at about 195 degrees and I think I am
around 175 but will keep playing with it a bit.
Rascal
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of Bob Tom
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 8:12 PM
To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
Subject: Tstat replacement WAS RE: DML: Cap & rotor with brass terminal
At 06:37 PM 11/28/05, Rascal wrote:
>Somebody tell me the trick to getting the thermostat out of my 98 318,
looks
>way down in there...do you move any of the other mounts out of the way?
Just swapped a 195 for a 180 in my '97 last week.
Remove some coolant from the rad. I use a hand pump syphon.
A rad full will fill 3/4 or so of a 4 liter jug.
Remove the 3 bolts holding down the a/c compressor and
the metal fastener holding the 2 a/c lines together.
Remove the serp. belt.
Raise the compressor up and move towards the rad, enough so that
there is no obstacle over the tstat housing.
Remove the tstat with hose still attached to the housing.
Remove tstat.
Plug hole with a cloth so that no gasket bits fall in when scraping
the old gasket off.
Trickiest part is when putting the tstat housing back on with
the hose still attached. Be careful to make sure that the housing
remains flat before/while/after bolting down the housing. Some
remove the hose from the housing, bolt the housing down and
re-attach the hose. Torque down the bolts to spec.
Hope this helps.
Bob
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