New thermostat, housing leaking

[clivvy]

hi chaps,

I fitted a new thermostat a few weeks ago, and this weekend is the first time I have been able to drive it. When I arrived at work this morning, could hear a right gurgling sound which abated. I had a very quick look, all seemed ok.

Anyway, went to the car this evening to go home and had another look-lost coolant out of the top of the rad, about a litre, and can see it all leaked out onto the under tray. Topped it up, drove home and immediately checked it. As far as I can tell, coolant is coming out of the housing where the gasket is.

the stat I fitted is a 88 degree one, and it came with gaskets, and some rubber rings of varying size. I cant quite remember if I fitted the rubber ring, should I have? as for the gasket, that seemed the correct fit and im fairly sure I tightened up correctly.

any idea what the issue could be before I start dismantling later tonight?

 

[R1cho]

hi chaps,

I fitted a new thermostat a few weeks ago, and this weekend is the first time I have been able to drive it. When I arrived at work this morning, could hear a right gurgling sound which abated. I had a very quick look, all seemed ok.

Anyway, went to the car this evening to go home and had another look-lost coolant out of the top of the rad, about a litre, and can see it all leaked out onto the under tray. Topped it up, drove home and immediately checked it. As far as I can tell, coolant is coming out of the housing where the gasket is.

the stat I fitted is a 88 degree one, and it came with gaskets, and some rubber rings of varying size. I cant quite remember if I fitted the rubber ring, should I have? as for the gasket, that seemed the correct fit and im fairly sure I tightened up correctly.

any idea what the issue could be before I start dismantling later tonight?

might just need a new gasket on the housing where it mates with the engine

 

[Banshee]

I cut my own using gasket paper

 

[firebobby]

hi chaps,

I fitted a new thermostat a few weeks ago, and this weekend is the first time I have been able to drive it. When I arrived at work this morning, could hear a right gurgling sound which abated. I had a very quick look, all seemed ok.

Anyway, went to the car this evening to go home and had another look-lost coolant out of the top of the rad, about a litre, and can see it all leaked out onto the under tray. Topped it up, drove home and immediately checked it. As far as I can tell, coolant is coming out of the housing where the gasket is.

the stat I fitted is a 88 degree one, and it came with gaskets, and some rubber rings of varying size. I cant quite remember if I fitted the rubber ring, should I have? as for the gasket, that seemed the correct fit and im fairly sure I tightened up correctly.

I remember fitting a new stat to my old 2.7 and it leaking afterwards, I removed it and re-sealed it a few times but it kept leaking when cold, there was no gasket or seal when I removed the old stat.
In the end, I took it up our local garage and they stopped the leak...he said the rubber seal was missing, but I never spotted a seal when I removed it in the 1st place :doh:doh

 

[clivvy]

yes mine was the same before I replaced it, no gasket but the stat did have a rubber seal.

Anyway, tonight it has gone from bad to better, to a lot worse.

Firstly, the leak was via a crack in the plastic stat housing. I figured no problem, because I still have my old alloy one form the Maverick. Set about fitting it along with a second gasket I had (so two gaskets) and I refitted my old stat which turned out to be an 88c in the first place (so no need for all this messing around). Went to tighten up the bolts and the one opposite the rad got so tight, then wouldn't tighten no more, you guess it:

looks like the thread is stripped from the block, what you see in the photo is what came out along with the bolt. Either that or its previously helicoiled.

SO, my first thoughts are to get the correct size helicoil and fix it that way but I am wide open to the best suggestions!!:bow

 

[clivvy]

also, can anyone advise the size of Helicoil kit I need? im not 100% sure which size i need so that I can re use the old bolt:bow

 

[Kishada]

Would imagine it might be an M6 but that is purely a guess.
Problem you have is that it might well need to be a M? x 1.25 for thread pitch as a lot of the bolts are fine rather than standard thread.
For the price of a helicoil kit you might almost be worth getting a second hand thermostat housing...
For what it's worth when I did mine, one of the corners on the blood alloy cover cracked really badly and I ended up getting a new 'stat cover and paper gasket from Nissan.

 

[clivvy]

I measured the bolt with a tape measure, and I get 7mm, the bolt head is 12mm. hoping someone has had to do this before and knows the correct kit I need?!

 

[clivvy]

Would imagine it might be an M6 but that is purely a guess.
Problem you have is that it might well need to be a M? x 1.25 for thread pitch as a lot of the bolts are fine rather than standard thread.
For the price of a helicoil kit you might almost be worth getting a second hand thermostat housing...
For what it's worth when I did mine, one of the corners on the blood alloy cover cracked really badly and I ended up getting a new 'stat cover and paper gasket from Nissan.

as you say, might be worth getting a price for the housing. :thumbs