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Replaced the thermostat today and topped off the fuel tank. Mileage dropped to 36.25 on this fill. Today I took advantage of the opportunity to see how cool the car ran with the bad (old one was stuck open) thermostat. It was 5 miles before the gauge came off the peg, before it moved at all. If I coasted in neutral it dropped below 20% of the gauges range. The only time it got to the middle of the gauge was when I restarted the car after picking up the thermostat.
I thought the installation would be a breeze until I realized the thermostat was not where the top hose met the engine but buried on the backside with the ac and power steering lines in the way. I could only get my left hand on the three bolts holding the housing to the engine. No way could I get two hands near the thermostat housing. I had to slop the rtv on the housing then stick the thermostat in. Then slide the housing around until the thermostat slipped into its groove and pray it did not slide between the housing and engine where I would break the housing trying to tighten it down. Finally got it in and it seems OK, but I have to keep an eye on it for any leaks.
I ran the car for about 30 seconds the drove it out of the neighborhood. The gauge was off the peg and actually in the operating range before I went .3 miles to the main road, compared to at least 6 miles before it got to the same level on the gauge before the thermostat replacement. The gauge stayed precisely in the middle, right where it is supposed to be. Tomorrow I'll see how long it takes to warm up, probably less than a mile.
We'll see how this tank does for mileage with it running at it's proper operating temperature, hopefully 40+. The tops of my hands are beat to crap and it took almost two hours.
regards
mech
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