Friday, November 19, 2010

How do I change the thermostat on my car?

Is it something that I could do myself (I am pretty good with cars, as is my husband) or should I take it to the shop and have them do it?

It's a 2000 Chrysler Cirrus if that mattersHow do I change the thermostat on my car?
It depends on the car, but mine takes me about 2 minutes to do.

Usually it's a really simple procedure.

What size motor is it?How do I change the thermostat on my car?
If you can change your oil, you can change a thermostat. $10 and you're done.
take it in to a shop. chrysler thermosta housings are made plastic. and a tendacy to brake when removing it. if all goes ok parts and labor should around $150.00 at most.
$150!!!!???? no way!

Its easy enough, its in a housing where the hose from the radiator meets the engine block,

Disconnect the hose from this housing. (coolant will piss out, never worry.)

Undo the bolts (usually about 3) on the housing that hose came out of.

It should come off/apart exposing the old thermostat, tap or twist it out.

Flush the engine and radiator with water, and drain out as much as possible by removing as many hose connections as u can see.

Replace new thermostat into housing, (pointy end toward engine) and re-assemble housing, making sure all mating faces are clean and smooth for a good seal!

Re-connect all hoses.

Replace new coolant mixture into the coolant tank, It will only let u put in about half, as the thermostat it cold/closed and it cant circulate.

Run the engine, once the thermostat opens/warms, it will suddenly drag the coolant through the engine, top it up again and switch off when it gets too hot!!! repeat till the coolant is fully circulated and the level stabalises.

Mine took about 6 litres, depends on the car tho...
Varies from car to car, but most have the thermostat in the top radiator hose housing on the cylinder head.

To change it, you remove the housing, pull out the thermostat, clean out the inner housing, replace the thermostat using a new gasket or silicon sealer if you don't have a gasket, and replace the housing and top radiator hose.

Not a big job. If you're unsure get a copy of the auto manual from your local library just read and confirm.

No comments:

Post a Comment