When I last had the car in the shop the mechanic noted the thermostat housing "upper assy" had some cracks with slow coolant leaks.

A few weeks back the radiator fans continued after shutting down for 5 minutes or so. I thought the thermostat had stuck but when I checked fluid levels the reservoir was mostly empty.

I topped it off and and continued to drive with no more overheating. I reviewed the threads here on overheating/thermostat/housing replacement and thought I give it a shot. Bought the upper assy online for $118 delivered and decided to dive in today.

Removed the cover... no problem. Removed a couple hoses and a reservoir and then realized that I would have at least another dozen fasteners that i could barely see and numerous hose clamps.

After an hour in I just gave up and starting re installing everything. I'm going to the shop in a week. I figured the likelyhood of screwing something up and spending my entire sunday under the hood were not worth the cost savings.

I feel defeated.

I prefer driving the car than working on it. thanks for the motivation anyway.

 

Get yourself a copy of the workshop manual online (comes as a set of PDFs) - that way you'll have some idea of what's involved in the job before you get started.

 

It really is outragious that they keep making cooling systems parts out of plastic. This has to be the goofiest idea ever on a car. They dont mind spending tons of $$$ on back up cameras & infotainments systems...oh lets make the parts that coolant at 220 degrees flows through out of plastic.....waterpumps, thermostat housings should always be made from aluminum.