thermostat housing removal

[trozei123]

i managed to get a bottle of the prestone radiator flush. the first time i am able to do something good to my ex. i drained the coolant, which was fun seeing how i had to use a funnel to get it into two containers. amazingly, the built in filter screen in the funnel caught quite a bit of crud (got it at a dollar store). i read up on doonze's radiator flush procedure. i also watched chrisfix's video on youtube. i figured i would combine the methods.

chrisfix recomends to take the thermostat out during the flushing process and to put it back in when the radiator is fully clean. i found the bolts to the thermostat housing were a pain in the butt to get off. there's hardly any room to get the right bolt and the bottom bolt out with the serpentine belt in the way. the left bolt, oh now that one is the worst of all. its right between the housing and the tensioner. i tried different size sockets, and none were able to get that bolt to budge. i finally said "fudge it!" and put the other two bolts back on and poured in the cleaner and filled up the radiator.

does anyone have any advice on how to get the thermostat housing off? i plan on replacing the thermostat once i get some more cash.

 

[natenkiki2004]

I think a 1/4" u-joint socket adapter is going to be your friend for the thermostat housing.

If you're just draining and filling to run the Prestone flush for a couple days, no need to worry about the thermostat. But if you're doing a flush (running water through the rad hoses to flush the engine out) then you'll want to remove the thermostat.

 

[2stroke]

The thermostat housing is very easy to get to. A 1/4" drive with about a 4-6" extension and a wobble socket. You can get all three bolts without touching anything.

 

[the_don]

I used a wobbley and a 10mm socket that was ground down all but the last 1/4 inch or so.

 

[mr cribb]

Remove the dad gum tensioner and it's easy access, but that's just my two cents. Breaker bar with a 16mm socket to move the tensioner, and a ratchet with a 17mm socket to remove the bolts. (Breaker bar is needed to gain access to the bottom bolt.)

Honestly it is the only way I do a thermostat job on these first gen trucks.

 

[Rhett]

Remove the dad gum tensioner and it's easy access, but that's just my two cents. Breaker bar with a 16mm socket to move the tensioner,

That's interesting -- what kind of tensioner do you have? The three different tensioners I have run have always needed a 3/8" square breaker bar to rotate them -- no socket needed.

 

[mr cribb]

The only one I've ever seen are what I described above.

 

[Rhett]

The ones I have always used on the Ex look similar to this, with the square hole for a 3/8" breaker bar to rotate:

 

[mr cribb]

https://www.google.com/search?q=bel...iw=320&bih=372#spd=1493986770863510489&spud=0

The ones I have dealt with



Post #2000

 

[vq5speed]

You have to take the belt off then the tensioner will spring down out of the way to get to the bolt.

 

[oldmodman]

I have the same problem.

I pull off everything that is in the way. First time I did it I stripped the impossible to reach hole and had to put in a Helicoil. Every time after that I just yank off everything in the way.

 

[2stroke]

Why bother with the belt at all? If anything, the fan and fan shroud are in the way. Not that the belt and idler pulley are hard to remove, but with a wobble socket, you can have the thermostat housing off in 2 minutes.

 

[Jason94sport]

The thermostat housing is very easy to get to. A 1/4" drive with about a 4-6" extension and a wobble socket. You can get all three bolts without touching anything.

Not on some....The tensionor is in a different location pre-94. The design & the way it mounts make getting the TS housing off a real PITA.