2 replies to this topic

[jo346820]

Hey all,

Thermostat: One of the easiest jobs I've ever done. We put some penetrating oil on the 2 bolts. We loosened them with a ratchet and a t40 bit on an extension, then unscrewed them both with a t40 screwdriver...left them in the housing and just pulled the housing out. Didn't detach anything else, just moved it out of the way, pulled old thermostat out, put new one in, screwed it back up. Old thermostat had several cracks around the spring seating...new thermostat WAS NOT the same appearance as the old one. Got it from fcpgroton. We drained the rest of the coolant, then just started flushing from the garden hose until it came out clear. Let it drain then filled with prestone and distilled water. DEFINITELY let the car heat up with heat on then shut it off...the "burp" took about a pint or two more fluid afterwards.

Spark Plugs: Again, easy as heck. My buddy and I took the cover off without removing anything else except the 6 torx screws. Pulled the wires, pulled the plugs, put new autolite coppers with dielectric on the end of them. 5 new plugs put in and cover put back on in less than 10 minutes.

Oil Change: I'll post a new topic sometime soon with new pictures of the latest in regards to the AUTO-RX. I'm impressed with the cleanliness of some items. Oil was not particularly dirty, I only ran it for about 1200 miles instead of the recommended 1500...

Just wanted to let those beginner mechanics know. Spark plugs and thermostats and coolant flushes are very easy to do on these cars. T-Stat and spark plugs could have been done together in 20 minutes by one person. Especially if being done at the same time as the coolant drains (:

-Joe

[shurgen]

Good work! Do you change oil every 1500 miles? The recommended mileage is actually around 3000 miles and more depending on the oil. I use regular oil and it gets black in about 4000 miles, that is the timeline I'm using