Thermostat Change

[marcspaz]

Am I seeing this right or am I missing something? I want to change my thermostat, but I can't just lift it out from the top of the housing because the intake is in the way.

Do I have to pop the intake off? I thought there may be a way of removing the whole housing, but I don't see any break points.

Any chance someone has a PDF that shows this process either as part of another job or as it's own process? I already went through the thread Hawg posted, but couldn't find anything.

Thanks,
Spaz

 

[94tbird]

do you have a 05/06 or a 07. the 07s have a different coolant routing and the tstat is in a different location than the 05/06's

 

[marcspaz]

It's an 07...

 

[94tbird]

im not too sure on the 07's man. im sure someone will chime infor ya.
There should be nothing holding it in. just tug on it and it should come out.

When i removed mine from my tbird, it was stuck. had to really tug on it till it popped out

 

[marcspaz]

My problem is that it is under the intake manifold.

I can't even get a wrench on the back bolt to take the top off without taking the intake off. I considered taking the TB and Alt off to get to it from above the center of the block, but even if I get a box wrench on the back bolt, there is no clearance to lift the top off and over the thermostat.

Very bad design. I hope I am missing something...

 

[dustindu4]

here you go

 

[Hawgman]

Thanks Dustin. But those are not for an 07. As Both Ron and Spaz have indicated, thermostat on an 07 is not in the same place as it is for the 05/06.

 

[marcspaz]

Yea, I might just wait until I start the engine work and do it then. I am installing CM delete plates and cams in a couple of months.

I wanted to do the thermostat now because my cooling fan is running all the time (under 30 mph). I am assuming it is not completely damaged, but it won't be long.

 

[Hawgman]

Here is the one for the 07s

http://iihs.net/fsm/?dir=182&viewfile=Thermostat and Thermostat Housing - Exploded View.pdf

 

[marcspaz]

Thanks Hawg!

I was afraid of that. I have to pull the intake...shit! I guess I will hold out as long as I can.

 

[tmcolegr]

Wow, what a PITA - glad I have an 05 & 06.

 

[94tbird]

yea man im looking at a 07 now. pull the intake and you can get to it. What a PITA

 

[Kevin@PMP]

I'd much rather have the coolant routing of an '07 than '05/'06, it takes what 30-45 mins to R&R the intake. The '07+ have less hoses and don't have the large bulky thermostat housing just hanging out in the engine bay, personally I prefer my thermostats in the intake.

 

[marcspaz]

LOL, yea, I was looking at the diag for the 5.4L and it looks like a giant wart on the side of the engine.

I just can't get over having to pull the intake to replace a $4-$12 part that should only take 5 minutes. I guess I am just spoiled with all the old skool stuff Ive worked on.

 

[94tbird]

idk. i like the ability to change my tstat easy now. that 07/08 looks 100x more time consuming

 

[marcspaz]

For sure.

I wonder if I can correctly engineer a new location that is more easy to get to. I might look into that a bit more. Maybe some already did.

 

[Virgin_Mustang]

where can I get them and should I go 160 for best results ?

 

[marcspaz]

You can get one at any parts store.

The stock one is 190. You should not go any cooler than 180 because all of the tuning constants are set to 178. If you go cooler that 180, the ECM/PCM will always assume the car has not warmed up (open loop mode) and you will not get max performance from your vehicle.

The computer can be reprogramed to go into closed loop as low as 104, but it is NOT worth the trouble. You would have to completely rewrite the complete tune table to run at the lower temps. You would also have to change some parts such as O2 sensors that are designed to run at the new lower range. After spending all that time and money on research and work, you might not get more than 2 BHP assuming you get it right.

I am only changing mine because it is broken.

 

[dustindu4]

stock t-stat in an 05 is not 190 it is 180. It has 180 stamped right on the thing

 

[marcspaz]

There are some minor diffs between 05/06 and 07/08. I have an 07. It has a 190 as stock. Still doesn't change much...