Hello all I am getting ready to replace my thermostat and hoses on my dodge ram 1500 with the 5.2 V8. The hose and hosing look pretty hard to get to. Is there any tricks to get to it? thanks very much.

 

On my 2000 pretty simple. First drain fluid from the radiator. If you have a stock air box I think you have to pull it. My first mod was a cai. The air box bracket is mounted right over the tstat housing. Then remove the little bracket screw between the air condition lines so you can slide it out of the way when the nut is removed, Its attached to the same stud as the airbox bracket. Remove the A/Cbracket Then the air box bracket(I think) it has nuts on one end and a bolt on the other. Then you can get to the Tstat housing. You will need an extension and a universial on the ratchet. I just left the hose on the tstat housing and lifted it up out of the way.Trying to clean the old gasket material is the hardest part it's tight for full size grub snatchers. Make sure to get all the gasket material off or it will leak. Put it back together. Fill your radiator. After I started the engine to check for leaks I ran the heater for a few minutes to purge any air out of the heater lines. It may make a gurggleing sound in the cab if you don't.

 

You have to take off the accesory bracket that the A/C and alt are bolted to. Theres a tab on the housing that makes it so you have to take that bracket off to get to it. Kinda sucks, so once you get the housing off, either grind the tab or bend it straight up

 

Thank you very much for the help. Ill remeber that about the tab also.
Thanks

 

No prob! If your changing the thermo your gonna loose alot of your fluid, so if it hasn't been changed in a while its a good idea to flush the whole system. Just take the bottom rad hose off completely, then run a hose through the engine starting at the thermo, and it will drain out the bottom hole

 

http://www.pavementsucks.com/tech/tstat.php

This site has good photos of the job. My only issue was the hose clamp on the heater hose was keeping the housing from coming out. Used a screwdriver to shift the clamp around some and out it came.

 

you can swap the t-stat w/o yanking anything off the front of the motor, I did it a few weeks ago on my wifes 3.9 motor. I even left the tab on the housing. make sure you clean the intake & housing of all the gasket material so it doesnt leak.

2 things I recommend... 1 - get a genuine mopar gasket. it has sealant built into it and you dont have to mess with any rtv. 2 - drill a very small hole in the diaphram to allow air to escape when filling it up. this will make it alot easier to get all the air out when bleeding the system.

 

Are you saying to drill a small hole in the t-stat diafram? I have never heard of this , what size drill bit are you using?

 

yes exactly. doesnt matter what size, it's just a bleed hole and is only there to let air escape during fillup so you dont air-lock the cooling system. you only need 1. if you go to big then it'll take longer to get up to temp and throw a code.

 

What moron thought up that stinkin tab? Not a bad job after you grind the sucker off.