ok so I have come to realize that my heater is not going to work unless I change my thermostat and since it has been around 10 degrees in the morning sooner is better than later. I want to make this job as quick as possible because I will be working in the cold so I have a few questions that are not in the writeup. Is it necessary to drain all of the coolant just to change the thermostat? Also, if I do need to do this where do I drain the fluid from, I'm assuming on the bottom of the radiator but don't know for sure. Thanks for your help!

 

Yes you'll want to drain unless you want it all comming out on your hands when you pull the thermostat.

Drain it out from the bottom of the radiator. Open the heater core so you'll get more coolant out and reduce chances of getting air in there.

You may want to get the universal socket (the swivel) the 3 bolts that hold the thermo in, is at a weird angle that maybe hard to get to with just a straight ratchet.

 

Yep, Haynes says to drain the coolant from rad/engine block, remove drive belts and idler pulley bracket, lower radiator hose, and water pump frain plug from the front side of the block (the right side, if you consider the engine as it should be, with belts facing forward).

Remove thermostat cover from engine, making sure you know which way it was positioned when installed.

From there, installation is backwards of removal.

 

Thanks for your quick reply. What do you mean open the heater core? Are you just talking about the cap on top of the radiator? can I reuse the fluid?

 

i just remove drain screw from radiator located on the driver side bottom of radiator, its a small phillips head screw. make sure you wd40 the screws that holds in the thermostat if not you can break them if they are stuck. as far as bleeding i just fill up the radiator and let it run until it bubbles up i know its ghetto but it gets the job done. it should take you no more than 45 to 1 hour to finish.

 

you do not need to remove the drive belt and idler pulley, the pulley would free up some room, but with a unversial socket you can get in there without removing anything besides coolant lines (atleast I didnt have to).

Opening the heating core...

If you have a manual climate control, you put the key in and turn to start (but dont start the car) and turn the heater control to the hottest position. then turn the car back off.

if you have the auto matic climate control.
put they key in and turn to the On position
within 5 seconds from turning to the on position, push the off button at least 5 times ( I just keep pushing till I saw the auto climate control light up)
press the "hot" button 3 times
press the defrost button 2 times (code 43 will be displayed)
wait 10 seconds, then turn to off. and drain.

Got this info from the motovate.ca site.

 

When I did mine I just drained from the radiator. Then removed the thermostat housing. It helped make a little more room by lossening the mounting bolts for the belt tensioner.