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So, I figured I'd finally get around to installing
the proper temperature thermostat in the van.
Factory spec is 195F, and there was a 175ish one
in there. Bad for fouling plugs, low power, and
so on. Why 175? Whole different story. Anyway...
Take out 175. Put in 195 with new gasket, and sealer.
No leaks. Fine. Drive from my house to Bojangles,
about 3 miles. Wow, the first time I stop, to make
a left turn across traffic, there's a huge cloud
of steam coming out from the hood! I start to watch
the temperature, and yeah, it's climbing.
The second time I stop, *fwooosh*, a bigger cloud!
This is one of those, "Hey, is that thing on fire?"
size clouds. I get out (at the light) and look under
the hood, nope, it's not fire. Ok, I drive it in to
Bojangles.
I'm meeting Jeff there, and he's waiting for me. I
tell him, "Wait for the boom!" and sure enough,
steam starts rolling out. Looking under the hood,
it's all coming from the overflow.
Ahhh! Now that the van is running at it's proper
temperature, the pressure in the system is higher,
causing it to overcome the old radiator cap. Ok,
no problem. Time for a new cap.
After lunch, I fire up my steam engine and locomote
over to the parts store. Get a new cap, and it seems
that the spec part for my van is a 16psi cap, not
the 12-14psi cap that I actually _had_. It's making
more sense all the time...
I get home, hose down the engine and fill it up with
water. Put on the new cap. Ahh, everything is fine.
Idles at a proper temperature. I take it for a short
four mile drive, no problems. Great. Now it's time
for errands.
I go down 55 to the post office. It's crowded, so I
continue on to the dump. Drop off four tires and
about 14 quarts of used oil. Back to the post office.
Mail Kent his trophy from the rallycross. Now, let's
see... Off to Raleigh, Wade Avenue. I have a gift
certificate at a bookstore there.
Everything is fine all the way over there, except for
the last hundred feet it runs a little hot. Sure
enough, when I stop, there's some steam. Seems to
be coming from near the thermostat housing neck.
Since I still had a couple tools with me from the
test run, I tighten the clamp on the neck. Doesn't
seem to help much. Hmmmm.
Off into the book store, look around, and Bob calls
me with good news: He has my cowboy hat! Hooray!
Leaving, the temperature rises immediately. I'm on
the Beltline, and I figure it's more a question of
time than distance, so travelling at highway speeds
will be better. Temperature rising, rising.... I make
it down to Route 1, then onto 64, through one light,
and pull over. I'm just one bar from "Cooked" on the
meter.
I let it cool down for, oh, ten minutes. Drive to a
Winn-Dixie two lights up. Buy three gallons of water
and put it in. Lots of it just converts to steam
immediately, which I don't mind, as it is removing
heat from the engine. Of course, it's robbing me
of *future* cooling power, but hey, that's the future.
I can't worry about that *now*!
I finally make it home. I just stick the hose in
the radiator, turn it on, then start the van. There's
steam, bubbling, blurbing, and all sorts. The
temperature comes down pretty well, and I go inside,
ready for some food and a shower. If you'd been taking
the coolant-steam sauna I had been all day, you'd want
a shower too!
So today I'm back on the project, and I look at the
thermostat housing neck: The gasket has blown out on
one side! No wonder! Ahh, it's all making sense. So
I drain the water, and take the neck, hose, and gasket
off.
I clean up the neck, and it is fairly corroded.
Pockmarked with age. Then I put it on the table, and
it won't even sit flat. No wonder the gasket blew out,
there wasn't even pressure everywhere. Ok, so I wonder
if I can get a new one, it's just a cheap, stamped
steel type of affair. I know they have those blingy-bling
ones at the auto store, and this engine is old enough
that they would probably fit.
So I go there, take a brief look at the bling isle,
and yes, they have them, but not for my engine. Too
bad, I was hoping that the chrome would hold up better
than raw steel for corrosion. So I ask the guy behind
the counter. Yup, they have a replacement for me. All
of six dollars.
So, the part comes out. It looks like it will fit, but
it's *cast*, not stamped. It's significantly beefier than
the one I have. Ok, that's good news. Now that I think
about it, the one I have is definitely bent in such a
way that the ears are pulled down a bit, as though
someone had tightened them up to try to overcome a leak.
Ok, that makes sense. I'm feeling good about this new
part.
I get home (this errands was accomplished in a different
vehicle, so there wasn't any drama) and fine tune the
cast part. There's always a few burrs and stuff. Nice
and smooth, I goop it up with sealant, and put it
in the van. Put one of my new bolts in, and then the
other. The second one doesn't grab.
Ahh, but instead of being about 1/16" thick, the new
cast piece is 1/4" thick. That plus the goopieness,
my old bolts are obviously too short. Back into the
garage, get a longer bolt. It seems to thread, but only
for a second. Hmmm, what's going on here?
I take off the neck, gasket, and thermostat. I test thread
the first side, and it's fine. The second side, well
it's just a hole. The whole thing is stripped.
And that brings us up to now. Stripped threads in a hard
to reach spot in a van that halfway under the dash. I'm
now open to comments about what the _good_ part of this is?
*grin*
Anders
_________________ Lina Racing: As Seen On Radio
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