Just ordered the Warm Temp. Gray T-stat from A.B. Question- Can anyone walk me through the easiest way to install it. I had the coolant changed about a few months ago to green and the T-stat about a year and a half ago.

My temps have been consistently running 208-215 F at idle when waiting to pick kids up at school. It goes down to 204-206F when driving in the City. I have 51940 miles on my 03'. I have an Ultra Gauge to get the readings.

Thanks-

 

You will need to study the way its placed now and make damn sure you put the new one in the same way.

You will need to use search bar and look up how to bleed cooling system follow directions to the T and you should be fine, we have no drain plug on radiator so you will be best off cracking one of the t-stat hoses to drain some coolant. Now another thing that you need to consider is the upper radiator hose and the placement of your bleed screw is it located in the T or in the upper radiator hose? If in hose its very brittle and you should buy new updated hoses. You may have a bit of plugging going on in your radiator its very common but the T-stat is cheapest
so i understand why your going there first.

If you have not changed your front drive shaft you should also consider changing that to. ( did not see in signature) ?

 

I've bleed the air out a while back and have the directions for that part. The black plastic bleed screw was in good shape the last time I did it. I'll have to check the condition of the hose(s). I imagine most of the coolant drains out when the top/ bottom hoses are removed. How many containers of coolant do I need?

I've gotten weird variations from time to time when running the Disco. It will go down to 201F on one day and then be 206F the next day when parked in bumper to bumper with AC on full. I imagine the radiator has some restriction from changing to green coolant. It's been flushed twice but I know the Dexcool is never truly 100% removed.

Thanks for the tip on the t-stat placement. I'll take a photo with my iPhone before removing it. The driveshaft mod was done a few years ago.

 

Ya I still don't understand how you can put the t-stat in wrong... It's seems to only go in one way... But I've heard of it happening...

 

Here is a plumbing chart. Also, you should consider testing your viscous fan clutch (when warmed up, engine off, spin and release, should not go a full reveloution, shorter is better - if it freewheels around a new one is needed) and your electric fan should have been coming on whn 212F. If not, spin it (frozen) and check fuse.

Also pix of top of stat, the center line port goes to "T", the "arm" port goes to the water pump.

 

Peak Flush kit says to run for a few hours or a couple hundred miles. Is this absolutely necessary? I don't have any where to drive for that long and I really don't want to leave it running that long. I've read that the chemicals can deteriorate the metal if left in too long. This cancels my idea of draining the old coolant and driving Monday thru Friday with the flush kit installed allowing it to sit 24/7 the whole week until the new t-stat arrives.

Question #1-

How many gallons of Coolant? I'll be using the 50-50 pre-mix so that I don't have to add distilled water.

 

2 gallons should suffice. It will definitely drink up one whole gallon.

Remember, to bleed the system throughly. Pull the coolant resevior up and out of its mounting, high above the engine while bleeding.

 

2 Gallons of 50/50 pre-mixed coolant with distilled? The reason I ask is that I read the system (dry) takes 13 Liters or 26.2 Pints.

1 Gallon is 3.78 Liters

Wouldn't I need (4) gallons to reach 13 Liters? Not arguing... just covering bases so not to make an extra trip to Autozone.

One other question-

Is it necessary to remove the block drain plugs? I read that I will need Threadlock to put back on the plugs.

Thanks-

 

Thanks- I'll check the viscous clutch today. The pictures/ diagrams are great to reference.

 

Wait. Are you flushing the coolant and installing the stat? Or just installing the stat? You're jumping around. If you are just installing the stat, 2 gallons will suffice. If you are performing a flush 4 gallons.

You mentioned you flushed it twice already, not sure why you are doing it again.