I'm sure this has been said before, But i couldn't find it in the stickys. Is there any videos or online tutorials on how to change the thermostat. I'm a noob, and i don't even know where the thermostat is. Thank you for your time. 305 tpi 86 ta.

 

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The thermostat is inside the water neck. This is the metal piece on the front of the engine that your upper rad hose goes. Get a gasket for it as well. There is a hose clamp holding the hose on. Take this off then take the hose off. It might help to drain a little bit of your coolant before hand. There are two bolts holding the water neck on. Take these out and carefully take the water neck off. There you will see the thermostat. Put the new one exactly as the old one was. Clean up the area and the water neck and use blue silicone sealant on both sides of the gasket. Put the gasket and water neck back on with the new thermostat. Tighten down the two bolts. I am not sure if there is a torque requirement for the bolts. Put the hose back on, and tighten the hose clamp. Fill the rad with antifreeze. It's late and I'm sure I made a mistake or two but someone will correct me if I am wrong. Or if you don't feel comfortable doing this take it to a shop. Around me it's like a twenty dollar job.

 

OP's car is TPI, so the thermostat housing is under the throttle body. A little more challenging to remove, but not too bad.

Make sure you clean both the intake as well as the housing gasket surfaces very well. Thermostat sits with wax pellet side down into the intake. Torque spec on housing is 20 ft. lbs.

 

I have a mr.gasket thermostat and i ordered the wrong gasket for my application. What kind of gasket do i need. And how do i get to the thermostat if it's under the intake manifold? Do i have to take off the runners, throttlebody, plenum?

 

You my friend desperately need to invest $20 in a Chilton's or Haynes manual.

 

This super easy to do on tpi. Just look directly at the engine look for the top radiator hose to where it leads to the intake. Once you see the silver round housing as in the picture above take the bolts off, lift up the housing and your thermostat is sitting right there. Take it out, put new one back in, put new gasket as the old gasket was, put housing back on top, bolt it back together, fill with antifreeze and your done.

 

Make sure you scrape old gasket material off the housing top and the intake, or else you'll have a leak.

 

I have the chilton-haynes book, it skips so many steps. I ordered that shop service manual for the 86 trans am. (Shipped) Plus, is this the gasket i need? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FEL-35062/ thanks for your help guys,sorry to bother you with the noobness. One more q, is there any type of glue i have to put on the new gasket?

 

Do yourself a huge favor and take off the TPI's throttle body (4 bolts and the throttle cable). Makes getting in at the thermostat much easier.

 

Do I have to disconnect the battery when doing the thermo?

 

No, has nothing to do with it

 

Alright, i ordered the gasket from felpro. Should be here in a few days. I'll change it by taking throttle body off. Thanks for everyone's help and time.

 

You beat me to it... lol

 

why did you order the gasket? just curious. autozone or just about every other shop has one for about a buck. good luck with the swap its really easy.

 

Just a quick question for you guys. How do you check to see if the thermostat is defective?

 

Wow
Sometimes a T-Stat won't seat after a while. When you take it out, it may be cocked to the side which lets coolant flow a little till fully open.

There is a number on the little copper poppet. That is the degree the T-Stat opens. Throw it in a pot of water with a temp probe. Once it reaches that number on the probe, the T-Stat should start to open. If not, toss it and spend 10 bucks or so on a new Stant brand.

 

20 Ft lbs...thats about once the bolt stops give it a little snug torque you would say?

 

Can anyone find a picture of the correct orientation for the T-Stat? I took mine out and forgot to snap a pic of how it goes back in.
Edit: '84 305 l69 engine with carb, if that makes a difference.

 

Doesn’t matter just throw it in. Wow this is a old thread

 

Only thing you can do is put it in upside down. Pointy end up. Flat surface with degrees of the thermostat embossed in it goes down. Otherwise doesn't care