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FCP Euro Service Kits

FCP Euro Kits

It’s generally a good idea to replace your car’s thermostat as preventative maintenance with every major service interval. They are a critical part of your car’s ability to regulate it’s own temperature based on how hard your engine is working at any given time and fluctuating environmental temperatures throughout the year. They are constantly opening + closing inside your car’s cooling system. It’s hard to predict when it’ll fail, and if it does it’ll either overheat your car and potentially destroy your engine or remain stuck open and your engine won’t seem to warm up like it used to causing bad fuel economy and an excessively cold cabin in the winter.

While they don’t cost much the labor charge to change it at a repair shop typically outweighs part’s expense. As such, sometimes it seems “too soon” with every major service interval (I’m thinking every 60k miles on a 2004 Saab 9-3) so subsequent options would be to include the job whenever the coolant gets flushed or when the water pump or coolant hoses get replaced. If I had no idea when the last thermostat replacement was made then I usually default to changing it if the car has passed 100k miles since the last change. While there are stories of people using the same thermostat with double this mileage there is no guarantee and the risk seems to outweigh the benefit of prolonging it that long.

 

Things you’ll need:

  • Thermostat
  • Coolant
  • Wheel chocks, jack + stands
  • ¼” ratchet, sockets, drive extension + universal socket joint
  • ¼” torque wrench
  • 100% Petroleum Jelly (to lubricate seals)
  • Clean rags
  • About 1-2 hours of free time

 

Ready to change your thermostat?

On a 2004 Saab 9-3 Arc the thermostat is relatively easy to change as it’s fairly accessible. It’s located near the firewall on the driver side just underneath the coolant reservoir:

Step 1: Ensure that the car has cooled down and raise the hood.

Step 2: Remove the coolant reservoir cap.

Step 3: Chock the rear wheels and engage the hand brake.

Step 4: Jack up the front of the car and use jack stands.

Step 5: Remove the plastic radiator shield using an 8mm socket + ratchet.

Step 6: Drain the radiator via the petcock valve into a container for subsequent recycling. The assumption here is that you don’t mind doing a coolant change at the same time which is a good idea if it hasn’t been done in a few years. Otherwise you need to drain just enough so that you’re not making a big mess on the driveway when you remove the thermostat housing cover.

Step 7: Close the petcock valve and head to the top of the engine.

Step 8: Remove the 3 bolts securing the thermostat housing cover using a 10mm socket, ratchet, drive extension and universal socket joint. You should have just enough room to do this without having to disconnect nearby components. Feel free to do so if you prefer.

Step 9: Pull up on the housing cover with the hoses still attached so you have enough clearance. You should be able to feel your way to the thermostat to be able to lift it up and remove from the side to get it out. Here’s a picture of it exposed with the thermostat housing completely out of the car from a prior DIY:

Step 10: Take a clean rag and do a “blind” cleaning of the opening before dropping in the new thermostat. Barring random events like a sudden dust storm passing through that should be enough to ensure the area is clean and free of debris.

Step 11: Sparingly lubricate the new thermostat’s gasket with a light coat of 100% petroleum jelly then drop it into the thermostat housing.

Installation is the reverse of removal:

  • Torque the 3 thermostat housing cover bolts to 7 ft-lbs.
  • Pour in fresh coolant into the coolant reservoir and put the cap back on.
  • Start the car and run the climate control system to full hot with the blower on high. This ensures that any air in the system gets vented into the coolant reservoir.
  • Carefully go under the car and check for leaks.
  • Reinstall the plastic radiator shield
  • Lower the car.
  • The car should at this point be close to operating temperature (you can check by looking at the dashboard’s temperature gauge and the needle should be roughly in the middle).
  • Check the coolant reservoir level and add more as necessary.
  • Let the car run for several minutes until the radiator fan kicks on a few times and keep checking the coolant reservoir level to ensure no more is needed.
  • Turn off the car, clean up your tools, put them away and wash up.

  • Dispose of the used coolant by dropping it off at a recycler.

Now feel accomplished for swapping out your old thermostat!

 

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Written by :
Alex Fiehl


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