hey guys, ok I’ve read and figure out how to do this, doesnt seem pretty hard…just one thing stumped me today while i was just taking a look at the engine bay…
there are 3 screws holding the thermostat housing in place right…that “L-shaped” thing…two are clearly visible on the top…i’m assuming the third is on the other side…is this reachable from under the car? I really dont want to have to remove the intake and the fan since that seems to get complicated lol…'im a complete noob bytheway, i’ve always wanted to fix things myself and since my civic never breaks down, i’ve never had a change to haha…so now i’m learning…
PS. when replacing the thermostat, do i have to apply “liquid gasket” on the housing? if i dont, will this possibly cause a leak? And after i’ve installed the new thermostat and hooked everything back up, what do i do?
IE: do i open the bleeder hole and fill up the coolant/water mix until it leaks out of that hole? what is this “bleed the air out” or something? ppl keep saying it, but i dont understand how to do it…do i do this BEFORE putting the coolant back in? do i turn the engine on with the hole open and run the engine for a bit? how do i know if ti’s enough? etc etc lol…
thanks in advance…
PS i plan to drain out about 2L of coolant, just enough to clear the thermostat…i dont want to do an entire flush…so after replacing the new thermostat, there will be coolant in there…just wondering what comes next…bleeder screw…etc…
You might aswell just drain the whole thing, it won’t really make that much of a difference. Make sure you put the drain bucket under the stat housing when you go to take it off. There will still be coolant in the motor.
You can get the bottom of the 3 screws from the top, just get a 1/4" drive ratchet with either a 3" extention or a deep socket, I can’t remember which one worked.
You are required to use gasket maker/rtv silicone when you assemble. It will leak if you don’t.
I’ll let someone else tell you about the filling/bleeding process.
You can probably find it if you google. By the sounds of it you have an idea of how to do it but are looking for shortcuts. Just do what you have heard and you should be fine.
ah alrite thanks, well the thing with the bleeding, on the “autozone” website, it says to just fill in the coolant until it leaks out of the bleeder hole…but doesnt say anything about bleeding it…
lol when the coolent comes out of the bleeder hole, you are bleeding it. lol. its pretty simple. after you bleed it make sure you have enough coolent in your resevoir too.
ahhh ok that’s what it is…lol thanks for clearing that up :S frig, i’ve been struggling to get the bolts loose…grrr…gonna call my friend tomorrow n see if he can help me out at his shop if it’s not too busy…
hey guys, ok it took me a good 30 min to finally replace the thermostat…i have to go to work now and dont have time to put the 3rd screw in…that one feels like a real bitch to put back in…
anyway, my question, when i took the thermostat out, a bunch of coolant came out and leaked onto the belts n whatever is below it…is this ok? cuz i cant exactly reach into there and clean it off…
and…i put a new gasket, but no “liquid gasket” as the FSM suggested cuz the guy at canadian tire told me it’s not necessary since i’m putting in a new gasket, said i would be wasting my money…he seems to know what he was talking about lol he was a mechanic at the VW dealership by my house…is this ok? i just tightened the two screwed really tight…but not TOO tight lol…just need to put the 3rd screw in…
and as for the new coolant, i got a 4L bottle of AC Delco coolant, and since i dont seem to have anything clean to mix 8L of stuff in…i was thinkin of pouring in the 4L first, then 4L of water afterwards…is this a good idea? or should i find a pale or somethin to mix it in before puttin it in?
and do i need to flush the coolant system out? like pour in water n keep draining till it comes out pretty clear? or can i just put the new coolant/water mix in?
agh, ok i flushed the coolant system out twice, by putting 4 litres of water(twice) with the drain plug open and the bleeder open…i poured in new coolant mix after the first 4 litres and ran the engine for a bit till it got to normal temp, then flushed it again, filled it up with coolant mix until it started coming out of the bleeder hole, topped it up, closed everything up, screwed all back in place…
i drove the car today to the gas station, on my way back, the temp gauge started going up again!!..same as before…so i’m guessing either i did something wrong or it’s not the thermostat…what else could be causing this?
when i slow down and shift at low RPM(like around 2000k or 2500k), the temp goes back to normal…if i’m at idle, or rolling, all normal, once i start driving and shifting up around 3-4K, it heats up…
hmm, yea a friend told me to remove it completely…but i wanna know if that is the problem…could it be the radiator?
cuz i put in a new thermostat…so unless there is air in the system and i didnt bleed it properly(big possibility lol), it should be something else causing this?..
o bytheway, this morning, i drove the car around n it heated up, then i parked the car at home to let it cool…a few hrs later i popped the hood n the coolant reservoir tank was pretty low, so i poured in some more up to “max” lol…I ran the engine again n warmed it up, popped the hood again after 30 min and the reservoir tank was way over the “max” mark…should i drain coolant out of the radiator till it’s at the “max” mark? or pump it out? or leave it alone?..
Do NOT remove the thermostat, you’d just be hiding the problem behind something else.
One of 2 things I am guessing.
Impropper bleading will cause those symptoms.
When I had this same thing happening to me in my S13, it turned out to be a blown head gasket. The #2 piston was pumping air into the coolant circuit. It would overheat randomly.
Do a leakdown test to find out if this is the problem.
well i think ther was air still in the system, a few hrs ago i opened the bleeder hole n left the engine running for about 40 min, by the end of the 40min, air had stopped coming out of the hole…whereas before it would be bubbling slowly…
i’m gonna drive it to my friend’s shop close by n see if it heats up on the way there…hopefully it’ll drive fine…but i’ll ask him about the leakdown test…thanks.
k guys, good news today…
i warmed up the 240 on the driveway for about 20-25min, and took it for a drive around the block, everything was fine, so i drove it on the street all the way to the licensing office which is about 5-10min, i went there, went inside, came back out, drove back home, it didnt go up at all, temp gauge stayed in the middle constantly…
…so my conclusion:
last night’s bleeding of the air properly(i hope, read previous post), fixed it…
or…the thermostat isnt the problem and it just randomly overheats like Theo23 mentioned lol…
gonna go for a drive tonite n see if it runs fine!
hey guys, i noticed my car overheats only when i’m going up hill…well actually, when i come to a stop on an uphill, say a light, or stop sign, and then continue to drive up hill…heats up almost right away…and i’d have to let off the pedal n roll until it goes back down to normal…
also when i bleed the air out of a system i dont use that bleeder screw i just leave the cap on the rad open till the thermostat opens and u just top it up put some fluid in the over flow and im gone. heat works.
the only other thing i can think of is bad flow from the rad… or a shit water pump??
hmm…true…well if i leave the engine on without the rad cap on(which i’ve done, with the bleeder screw screwed in)…the fluid just overflows…slowly rises and overflows…when will the thermostat opeN? when the engine his normal temp? cuz if not, how do i get it to open? revving the engine on my driveway at a constant RPM? like 4000?
id sit at like 2000 rpm. or just eat a sandwich or smoke a cigg while waiting, yes it will overfill a bit but i have never never!! had any problems .
you will notice when it opens too because the fluid that was overfilling has now been sucked in and u can put more fluid in.
if the coolant is coming out of the bleeder screw hole I’d say you have a blown head gasket… the compression of one or two of the cylinders is pumping the coolant up. Did you get the leakdown test yet?