Thermostat Replacement Question

Well, my thermostat is bad. I searched the forms and I have a question on the replacement of the unit. The manuals recommend removing the alternator to get at the thermostat. How hard is this to do?

Someone else mentioned taking off the front wheel and protector and getting at the thermostat that way. Would that be easier?

One other question. Whats the easiest place to drain some coolant out of the system?

Thanks

You might have to remove the alternator, depends on how flexible you are. I removed my front wheel, supported the truck really nice and dug out my 18" rachet extension. After that, all was easy. I had to loosen my alternator to get to one of the bolts. Re-installing the hose to the t-stat is fun.

I also had to buy my t-stat from the dealer. Murrays (also Checkers to some of you) sold one but it wasnt the same as OEM. I paid about $42 for the t-stat from the dealer. I used a large drain pan and let it drain out of the t-stat when I loosened it.

So when you loosen the alternator a little, does that affect the belt at all? I am being timid and don't want to redo the drivebelt.

I also looked up in the manual about removing some of the coolant and it recommended to drain by removing the lower radiator hose. I am guess this will drain more coolant from the system then I really need to for this repair. I might just do as was suggested and just loosen the thermostat housing and collect what drains with a drip pan. That a good idea?

Timmy, you are too funny :D The belt is probably the easiest part of the whole job! If you are nervous about it, you may not even have to loosen the alternator. Ive heard some say that they had to take it off, others said they never touched the bolts. Then there is me - who had to just loosen it and that was enough...


As far as draining coolant, do whatever makes you comfortable. I just drained it from the t-stat housing. IIRC, it started draining almost right away when I loosened the bolts. Gave me a few minutes to prepare the new t-stat and get a fresh cold beer :D

Alrighty, so with the belt just release the tension with a breakerbar/driver. Ease the belt off the pulley then remove the alternator then its cake from there to do the thermostat. I guess I was nervous about the belt because I haven't done that before.

Play it by ear, you might not even have to remove the alternator.

Well I finally got around to replacing the thermostat this week. Here are my impressions from a nonmechanic standpoint on doing this.

I tried to go at the thermostat by going through the wheel well area, didn't get to far because I thought it would be more of a pain then it would be worth. So I just took off the alternator. Removal of the alternator made the job really easy. I did have one bolt (the bottom one on the alternator) about 15mm in size that i couldn't use a socket on to remove due to a hose fitting being in the way. That added a fair amount of time as I didn't have a ratchet wrench. Other than that it wasn't too bad. Putting the drive belt back on to the alternator pully was kind of a PITA but was able to get it done with some help.

Hopefully this fixes my code problem. I have noticed that the temperature gauge is about at the 210 mark. Yesterday it was running hotter than that in 90 degree heat and stop and go traffic. Hopefully thats normal.

It took me about 3 hours to do. I think if I have to do it again I could get it done in 1.5 to 1 hour now that I know some of the tricks.

Glad I read your thread. I thought the thermostat was on the other side going to the top hose.