Thermo change ?
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Professional
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 140
Likes: 2
From: Central NC
Thermo change ?
Changing the stock 195 thermo to a 180 this weekend. I have never changed one a Ram before and was looking under the hood last night and the thermo housing looks like a pain to get to. How hard is this or am I just not looking at it good enough?
Grand Champion
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,099
Likes: 6
From: Colorado
RE: Thermo change ?
Access is kinda a pain, escpecially if you need to remove old gasket material to ensure your new gasket doesn't leak. You need to move the alternator bracket for best access. When you have the housing out, grind off the tab that says "FRONT". Makes reinstallation so much easier. Should take you about an hour.
All Star
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 939
Likes: 0
From: West Of St Louis, MO
RE: Thermo change ?
It's a pain - but not as bad as it looks. Remove the top rad hose from the rad and drain it into a bucket. Remove the alt bracket. You can get to the 2 bolts on the tstat housing with a long extension ( I think 13mm not positive). I had to take the serpentine belt off the alternator and loosen it to get enough clearance to pull the housing out. Use the hose to help pull out the housing. Like Silver said - after you get it out file off the tab on the housing that says "front" - don't need that and it's what makes this job a pain. Install the new tstat. Clean both surfaces, put the new gasket on the housing (mine from NAPA had sticky on 1 side & I put a very thin coat of blue RTV on the other) Once you get the housing into place you probably will have to put a piece of elec tape in your socket to hold the bolt so you can get it in the hole on the housing. I partially refilled the top hose with coolant before reattaching to the radiator to help eliminate air bubbles. Refill rad and coolant overflow tank. Start the truck and run it with the rad cap off and the heater full on. Add coolant as the level drops. You will notice the circulation once the temp hits 180 and the tstat opens. Top off radiator and put cap back on. After a few miles recheck the coolant level in the overflow tank. I reset the computer also before I started it for the first time.....
