Guetzer
Member
Ok let me just start by telling you that if anyone tells you replacing a thermostat is not a bitch, they are probably lying, because it can be a biatch!!
So here is the process that I went through:
Day 1
Went to Midas, got a thermostat and some AF. The thermostat was like ~R50. After the rain faded a bit we started removing the thermostat housing, without removing the viscus fan, so there wasn't much space to work. Nevertheless we got it off and saw that the thermostat housing's rubber seal looked like... well like it was 15 years old. Luckily that was fixed with some gasket marker. The thermostat was sitting pretty tightly but managed to get it out. This is how the head looked(pic was taken after there had already been some gasket marker on):
After the new thermostat was nicely seated we saw problem number 1: the seal Midas gave me was not going to work and in no way looked like an o-ring from the old one. But we tried to install it anyways but at this stage it was allready dark outside and we wanted to let the gasket marker set nicely before filling up with water and AF.
Day 2
Start filling up and water just starts pissing out of the housing area.... Took off the housing, saw the rubber was not going to work, went back to Midas and they told me I'm lucky i even got a rubber seal with the thermostat, and did not even have the right size o-ring. Then we started o-ring shopping and found nothing, eventually got an o-ring made at Pro Auto Rubber (shown below).
Got back, thermostat fitted and some new gasket marker. And while I was still smiling and tightening one of the 4 bolts i just hear SNAP.... original thermostat housing cracked. Phoned a few places and this is the overall response: spare part places say they have second hand ones from ~R300 - R850, but some that didn't have anything said I should try Masterparts. Phone them and they tell me they have a new one for ~R200. Drive there in traffic to get the part, looked very nice and shiny compared to the original one:
Same process again, except this time there was no need for gasket marker as the new housing came with a new gasket. Happily i started tightening the bolts again... until another fucking disaster stuck, that dreadful "SNAP" sound
... yup the brand new housing cracked just like that, its super duper duper fragile. So we gave up and by that time it was already dark again.
Day 3
Did some more research and found out that the metal housing for the m50 motor will fit the m52 as well. Phoned a few people and they said the same thing, Masterparts. Phoned them and they said sure we have the metal ones they are ~R150!!!! Sooo... basically a shitty fragile plastic thermostat housing is ~R200 and the aluminium one is ~R150 (Hopefully this will save someone R200 and a self inflicted kick to the head in the future). Here is the aluminium housing:
And so by this time I have become a pro at removing and installing the thermostat housing with very little space. Installed everything, filled up with water and AF, bled it, started the car (after the battery that was dead for some reason had been charged again). No leaks, no problems and engine gets to its temp in about 3mins.
Here it is all installed:
So here is the process that I went through:
Day 1
Went to Midas, got a thermostat and some AF. The thermostat was like ~R50. After the rain faded a bit we started removing the thermostat housing, without removing the viscus fan, so there wasn't much space to work. Nevertheless we got it off and saw that the thermostat housing's rubber seal looked like... well like it was 15 years old. Luckily that was fixed with some gasket marker. The thermostat was sitting pretty tightly but managed to get it out. This is how the head looked(pic was taken after there had already been some gasket marker on):
After the new thermostat was nicely seated we saw problem number 1: the seal Midas gave me was not going to work and in no way looked like an o-ring from the old one. But we tried to install it anyways but at this stage it was allready dark outside and we wanted to let the gasket marker set nicely before filling up with water and AF.
Day 2
Start filling up and water just starts pissing out of the housing area.... Took off the housing, saw the rubber was not going to work, went back to Midas and they told me I'm lucky i even got a rubber seal with the thermostat, and did not even have the right size o-ring. Then we started o-ring shopping and found nothing, eventually got an o-ring made at Pro Auto Rubber (shown below).
Got back, thermostat fitted and some new gasket marker. And while I was still smiling and tightening one of the 4 bolts i just hear SNAP.... original thermostat housing cracked. Phoned a few places and this is the overall response: spare part places say they have second hand ones from ~R300 - R850, but some that didn't have anything said I should try Masterparts. Phone them and they tell me they have a new one for ~R200. Drive there in traffic to get the part, looked very nice and shiny compared to the original one:
Same process again, except this time there was no need for gasket marker as the new housing came with a new gasket. Happily i started tightening the bolts again... until another fucking disaster stuck, that dreadful "SNAP" sound
... yup the brand new housing cracked just like that, its super duper duper fragile. So we gave up and by that time it was already dark again.Day 3
Did some more research and found out that the metal housing for the m50 motor will fit the m52 as well. Phoned a few people and they said the same thing, Masterparts. Phoned them and they said sure we have the metal ones they are ~R150!!!! Sooo... basically a shitty fragile plastic thermostat housing is ~R200 and the aluminium one is ~R150 (Hopefully this will save someone R200 and a self inflicted kick to the head in the future). Here is the aluminium housing:
And so by this time I have become a pro at removing and installing the thermostat housing with very little space. Installed everything, filled up with water and AF, bled it, started the car (after the battery that was dead for some reason had been charged again). No leaks, no problems and engine gets to its temp in about 3mins.
Here it is all installed:
