Doesn’t sound too complicated and for what it’s worth I believe that thermostats should be changed out every 4 or 5 years at most. I consider it heading off trouble before it starts as many an engine has been barbecued because of a lowly thermostat.
Not the same year, but close. If you’re wondering what the jiggle valve is that is mentioned it’s a small pin in the thermostat that rattles a bit when you shake the thermostat. The purpose of it is to bypass a small amount of coolant until the thermostat opens completely.
Well that was fun. Actually only took me 10-12 minutes to do. Had the game plan going in and it was extremely easy. Looks as if the temp gauge is in the same spot after installing and letting it run about 20 minutes while I washed it. Hopefully it will help along with what they find out on Monday. I wonder if they will tell me I need a new thermostat. Any bets? Anyway, thanks for info and encouragement to do it.
Interesting comment. I ran into this missing thermostat gasket thing last year when I replaced the thermostat in my Corolla. I failed to check the box & had to go back for the gasket. Very frustrating.
When you buy a water pump, a gasket comes with it, right? When you buy an engine coolant temp sensor, or pretty much anything else that screws into the cooling jacket, a gasket comes with it, right? I wonder why thermostats don’t come with the gasket?
Even when I buy something that comes with a gasket, I always check to be sure it’s in there. I even check the bottoms of oil filters to be sure the gasket is there and undamaged.
Yep. Got the gasket as well. 2.00 bucks for it. Funny, the first t stat the guy brought out had a gasket with it. Luckily I took it out of the box to look at it cause he had a gasket too. He grabbed the wrong part off the shelf. The correct one needed the gasket as well.
I wonder why thermostats don’t come with the gasket?
Because that same thermostat may fit several different housings, that require different gaskets. The same thermostat goes in a Chevy 350 and an Olds 350, but have different gaskets.
The same thermostat goes in a Chevy 350 and an Olds 350, but have different gaskets.
That would be a good reason to require the customer purchase the gasket separately from the stat, but here’s the thing, if the thermostat correctly fits the housing surface on the car, wouldn’t a gasket which fits exactly under the thermostat footprint have to fit too?
Nope. Thermostat housings vary greatly.
They do sell “universal thermostat gaskets”, but they’re really only for those cases where there’s nothing in the parts catalog that’ll fit, like if you were installing a T-stat in a Morgan, for example, or a classic Lotus 7.
It’s been long enough since I did the thermostat replacement job in my Corolla I can’t remember the details exactly on how the gasket was oriented or what it looked like, but I think I recall it was like the photo below, where it exactly matched the footprint of the thermostat. But maybe there was another gasket for the housing, brain starting to miss, loosing horsepower … lol …
Well the dealer said they think I have an exhaust leak both at the manifold and at the back of car. Bout 2000.00 to replace both manifolds. I’m thinking since the possible leak is before the oxygen sensor it may not be getting a good mix therefore making truck use more fuel. I asked if they could just replace manifold gaskets and they said no. They would need to replace manifolds. I called a reputable service shop in my town and asked them if they would/could just replace gaskets and they said yes. All included for both would be 350.00. I guess it would be worth a try for fixing gas mileage. What does everyone think?
A blown exhaust manifold gasket or a cracked manifold will make quite a bit of noise, especially under a load. Are you hearing any noise from that area?
Honestly the engine is in great shape. No rust anywhere. No noise that I can detect. One of my employees a month ago dropped me off at my truck and I started it and drove off. The next day he asked me if I had an exhaust leak. I said no and now this "diagnosis " at the dealer. I asked him this week why he asked that a while back and he said cuz exhaust was dripping and that he could hear a ticking.
