redoldsman

Yesterday I was in the Olds headed to the monthly NTOC Meeting. I am on the George Bush Tollroad running along about 8 with people passing me. It was a nice day, and I had the T-Tops (Hurst Hatches) out. I had not gone very far and looked down at my temp gage and the thing had pegged to the hot side. I rolled off at the next exit and came to a stop. Then I realized I had left my cell phone at home which is very unusual for me. A nice guy in one of those high dollar Mercedes square looking SUV's stops and asked if I needed help. So, I use his phone and called my wife's cell. It was a California cell, and she did not know the number, so she didn't answer. Then I call the house phone (yes, we still have a land line) and she could hear me on the answering machine. So, she comes on over and then I call AAA and they send a wrecker. We got home and dropped the car in the street. It was cooled off by now, so I put it in the garage. I was pretty sure it was a stuck thermostat. My buddy Rob (The Robinski) gave me a thermostat. I pulled the old one and put them both in a pan of water. The new one opened right at 180° and the old one never opened. I already had a package of new gaskets that I bought from Rock Auto on closeout. I had to go to our new NAPA store and got some antifreeze and then next door to Dollar General to get a couple gallons of distilled water. I ran it until it warmed up and it stabilized at around 160°. Life is good again.

Koda

Good on you, Glenn. That certainly seems like a dead thermostat. Glad you got the thing to seal, I'm having a devil of a time with a Chevy on that.

oldcutlass

A 180* thermostat should keep the engine at 180*+. If you're only seeing 160*, the replacement is not working correctly.

redoldsman

Koda, for years I have heard that about Chevys although I never experienced it. I have heard it more about the O-ring thermostat housings.
Eric, I thought the same thing as you. The only hashmarks on the gauge with numbers on them are at 100, 210 and 240. I am guessing on the 160°. It is either one of two things. I am guessing it wrong, and the thermostat is a 160. It opened right at 180 in the pan of water, so it is probably my interpretation of where the needle is. Either way I am okay with it.

BangScreech4-4-2

Yeah, sounds like the new one is stuck open! How fast does the engine warm up?

Olds64

Sounds like you got it figured out. How did you measure the temp of the engine after installing the new thermostat?

oldcutlass

The thermostat rating is the temp in which it starts to open, fully opened is somewhere around 15* higher.

redoldsman

Thermostat is not stuck open. I tested it twice in a pan of hot water with a thermometer in it. I am not trying to troubleshoot the car here. This is just a story of my Sunday afternoon event. Thanks for the advice anyway. .

edzolz

Lots of armchair quarterbacks on here.

Weezer

John, I remember you saying this on another thread, but can't recall if you determined you had a warped housing or not. For what it's worth, when I put my recored radiator, new thermostat & gasket, and hoses on a few years ago, I was having a weepy leak at the housing for quite a while. It finally sealed up, but it took quite a few cycles before doing so. I found it odd, but after it finally stopped, I just chalked it up to "must be how these gaskets seal."

redoldsman

I scraped the manifold and the housing with my gasket scrapper that uses a single edge razor blade. Then I wiped them both down with lacquer thinner. The gasket had peel off with adhesive on one side and I used blue Permatex on the other side next to the manifold. I also put Permatex on the bolts. Tightened the two bolts down and no leaks. Sorry guys I did not use a torque wrench on the bolts.

oldcutlass

I use weatherstrip adhesive and seal the gasket to the housing and dry against the manifold. Put some plumbers pipe dope on the bolts and tighten it all down. Never have a leak.

Greg Rogers

Glad you got it, Glenn.