Ok I have been having some cooling system issues lately(some of you guys may remember my last thread about it). Anyhoo, I decided to go pick up a thermostat today and swap it out, figuring maybe the old one was sticking.

First off, the two thermostats are the same size, yet the one I pulled out of my car is quite a bit deeper. It has two springs on it, and another plate at the bottom, whereas the one autozone sold me looks like a standard GM thermostat from an older small block.

I am kind of happy though, because it took a good amout of effort by hand to make the thermostat open when I took it out, and the new one(whether right or wrong part) didn't take as much effort. Hopefully my problem is the thermostat backing up some coolant by not opening enough.

Anyhoo, I can get some pictures if anyone needs them. I really hope this isn't too obvious- IE, "duh if the part doesn't look like what you took out it's wrong", but they looked up the thermostat with the description of the year make model and engine of my car. Has anyone dealt with this before?

BTW both thermostats open the same way as far as flow goes.

John

 

its the wrong one.. they sold me the same wrong T-stat too! autozone dosent realize that our 5.7 is different. hehe! sammmmmmme exact thing happened to me!

 

ditto, they sold me the wrong one a few years ago. Their computers are wrong on a LOT of stuff.

 

Ok thanks guys, do they actually have the correct one or will I have to get it somewhere else?

Oh and while I'm waiting for flood control to let me post........ I'm assuming you all got a new thermostat because of a problem? If so what were the symptoms?

 

Yes, it's wrong in the Autozone database. Pepboys has the correct one.

 

they sold me the wrong one too. They can get you the hypertech one for like 19.00 so i just had them get me one of those.

 

Ok, I just got back from autozone. I took my old thermostat for a reference, and when the guy looked up a 1996 instead of a 1995 it came up with the correct part #s.

 

What temperature was the correct one you ended up keeping?

 

They had 195* listed as the stock replacement which is the one I got. But then again they also had the thermostat listed wrong to start out with.

The car is running warmer than it was before. At this point I can't tell if it's due to the thermostat or the cooling system needing to be bled again. Before the car would run about 185* and today the gauge was showing about 205*. I'm going to bleed it again tomorow and see what that does.

What does everyone elses gauge read and what thermostat do you have?

 

Hey John what kinda cooling issues you got bud?

 

I was having some issues that were about to make me go insane!! About half the time when driving, the low coolant light would come on, and then a minute or two after the light came on the car would begin to run hot. It never got close to the red zone on the temperature gauge, but running 25-30* hotter than normal. I knew something was wrong because I have the fans programmed to come on earlier, and even in the middle of summer in traffic the temp never got much above the first tick on the gauge(185*). Then sometimes the low coolant gauge wouldn't come on, and the temperature was normal. When the low coolant light came on, my first thought was to check the coolant. First time I checked I let the car cool down fully, removed the radiator cap, and it was full. Next time I didn't let the car cool down, I put a towel over the radiator cap so I wouldn't get sprayed by the hot antifreeze and took the cap off. Once again, full. So the other day, I checked for leaks, and decided I would take the radiator cap off and let the car run until it hit operating temperature. With the cap off, the coolant level rose steadily until a little poured out of the top of the radiator. Then as it got hotter I saw some bubbles come up. Then a lot more bubbles, the coolant looked like froth!! All of a sudden the coolant level dropped down into the radiator so far I couldn't see it anymore. So I turned off the motor, let the electric waterpump run and slowly added coolant until it was full. That worked good for about a day and a half and last night(saturday) the low coolant light came on again and the car ran hot.

I think the stock thermostat was sticking shut sometimes and backing up the cooling system. That and some air in the system caused the car to run hot. I have topped off the cooling system twice today and bled it twice to make sure it's in good shape. Tomorow on the commute to school(45 mins. each way) we'll see if I fixed it or not.

John

 

Stock thermostat is 180º not 195º.

AZ=

 

odd.. my stock one fully opened at around 190 or so if the pot of heated water is to be believed.. thought it was broken, but it seemed to work but i already got a 160.

who knows though, my thermometor could have been wrong.

 

not sure on that stock stat i think it depends on where the car is destined because mine had a 195 in it stock

 

I have feeling that you have a head gasket going.Hope I am wrong.What kind of gaskets and bolts did you use?