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How I did it (long) Posted by SPG Jr [Email]  (#1830) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from SPG Jr) on Wed, 24 Jan 2018 11:25:40
In Reply to: changing engine thermostat, Saabu  [Profile/Gallery]
, Wed, 24 Jan 2018 07:46:51
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I just did this work a month ago on my ’00 Viggen.
Dean’s posts on water pump replacement and the responses cover draining and thermo pretty comprehensively. I had done this on C900s a few times, the Viggen’s configuration was a little more difficult.
Do the coolant temp sensor while you’re at it. And the thermo housing covers aren’t too expensive, I just did mine while there.
Draining
Jack the front up or pull up on ramps to get some type of tub under the car to catch the coolant. I first put a sheet of plastic under the car with some rolled up drop cloths at the sides and rearward, to absorb coolant that WILL miss the tub. Then I placed a medium or large cement mixing tub (available at the big box home stores) under the outlet for the lower radiator hose that will be pulled to drain. The coolant coming out of the rad and engine is going to run all over the frame, so more of tub should be under the front cross member and up against the passenger wheel where coolant’s going to migrate. At this point you can remove the spring clamp on the lower rad hose and pull it off to drain, but some tips first…
I had to first remove the intercooler hose from the intercooler and turbo to get the lower rad hose off. The clamp on my IC hose was oriented such that I had to loosen it from under the car, before putting the tub in place. Maybe its just understood or obvious, but I don’t remember seeing the IC hose mentioned in other write-ups. Not a big deal, unless you’re flushing the coolant, in which case you need to at dry fit the IC hose and clamp the rad hose after each drain, in oder to to run the car and flush the system. (do NOT try to run the car unless the rad hose is clamped on, the hose will likely blow off.) And for whatever reason, getting the IC hose back on was the most difficult part of the job. It just wouldn’t cooperate and slide on. The expletive factor was off the charts just for this hose.
If you don’t have them, I suggest investing in a pair of hose clamp pliers for the rad hose spring clamps. You can get by with vice grips or pliers, but my arm barely fit between the radiator support member and the stuff at the front of the engine. So the clamp pliers made that ordeal a little better. This narrow space also made the aforementioned IC hose reconnecting a PIA.
A mess-minimizing suggestion: I had pretty good success with carefully placing a sheet of heavy duty tin foil right under the rad hose/rad outlet, then putting the foil across the frame member, and forming it to channel the coolant into the tub when the hose is pulled. Heavy foil is a little less prone to ripping when you catch it on stuff. You’ll get some rips and drips, ideally into the tub, but it definitely helped control the mess (next time i’m going to try one of those form-a-funnel things).
I typically wait until after I pull the hose to open the reservoir, to control the gushing a bit.
If you’re flushing it, reconnect everything, put distilled water in the reservoir, start the car, let it run for a while, turn the heat on to high, let the car get warm/hot, adding distilled water as needed. Repeat until satisfied the system is flushed. The tub holds a lot, but don’t forget about how it will slosh around when you pull it out.
After the last flush and drain, leave the system drained, pull the upper radiator hose off the thermostat housing and move out of the way (or just disconnect it from the rad). Replace the coolant temp sensor, which is on the side of the block under where that hose just came off. Disconnect the wiring harness and use a ratchet with one of those swiveling adapters, b/c its hard to get in there straight.
Access the thermostat housing on the back of the block. I absolutely needed offset box wrenches to get at the two bolts without having to move the fuel rail. And even then it takes a lot of tiny partial turns.You can barely see the top bolt. The bolts are sort of at 1:00 and 7:00 position on the housing. There’s another little hose bracket bolt, different size than housing bolt, that screws into the housing that needs removed. Once those three bolts are out, there’s not a lot of space, but you can get the housing off, then pop the thermo out.
Clean off the mating surfaces for the thermo and housing. I used a little bit if Hylomar on the thermo gasket to hold it in place while installing and to seal. Be sure the thermo's weep hole is at top.
Reconnect everything. I forget the system's volume, but put in straight coolant at half the system's volume, then top up with distilled water. Run the car, add distilled water as necessary to top up level. Drive to your local DIY car wash and carefully rinse off the coolant in the engine bay and underneath. Drive home, check coolant level and top up, as it will have burped out some air bubbles.
(re diagrams, best I can think of would be the parts diagrams for the cooling system at a dealer website. However for this project, you can find everything involved by locating the lower rad hose on passenger side and upper rad hose on driver side. Were it not for the IC hose, this would've taken me a couple hours. As Justin notes, you can do this faster by only partially draining the system. If the car's new to you and you have the time...enjoy the knowledge that your cooling system is clean and fresh by flushing it out. Although in Calgary, maybe that's a Spring project.)
->Posting last edited on Wed, 24 Jan 2018 12:20:01.
, Wed, 24 Jan 2018 07:46:51, Thu, 25 Jan 2018 18:50:19, Fri, 26 Jan 2018 07:31:49, Wed, 24 Jan 2018 16:18:38, Wed, 24 Jan 2018 11:25:40 <-- Viewing This Message, Wed, 24 Jan 2018 12:42:15
, Wed, 24 Jan 2018 13:41:55, Wed, 24 Jan 2018 14:26:34, Wed, 24 Jan 2018 16:53:23, Wed, 24 Jan 2018 09:18:33
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