thermostat??

[CHIF8008]

riddle me this: so what are symptoms of the thermostat sticking and or not opening?
my upper hose is blazing is hot and my bottom one is cool, also the radiator itself is very hot to the touch. is my thermostat the problem??


which direction should it face? im brain dead right now and need this info

[Sagaris]

Symptoms of a stuck open thermostat are, it takes 20 minutes just for the car to warm up to 1/3 on the gauge and it doesn't go past that, then when you get on the freeway the temp. decreases to less than 1/3. That is my experience with them. I have replaced a few bad thermostats lately and have heard my friends having issues with theirs. It is a lot more common than I ever thought it could be.

I always get mixed up when installing it. Please correct me if I am wrong, but the order of parts goes T-stat housing > o-ring > t-stat > cylinder head. So the small housing piece that you can remove with the (3) 10mm cap screws is the piece that the o-ring rides up against. Again, please check this information as I always get mixed up , make a very good mental note of the orientation of the one coming out of the engine .

[CHIF8008]

ya i just dont wanna put in in wrong

[jlevie]

One side of the thermostat has a pyramid shaped metal strap. That side faces the radiator.

[CHIF8008]

yes the mechanical part of it sits in the housing. and altho my old one had the o-ring against the outer side. my auto book shows it against the engien and there was a lip to place it in. so i put the o-ring on that side. granted i would have liked to have one on both side but i only got one

[jlevie]

The o-ring should go between the thermostat housing cover and the thermostat.

[CHIF8008]

ya what i said before was wrong. it leaked. so i pulled it and redid it. the auto book was just a general thing, not for bmw's. O-Ring goes on the outside of the termostat against the cover(as jlevie said)