1996 Corsica 3.1L V6 How to change thermostat?

[anyideas]

I attempted to change the thermostat on my 1996 Corsica 3.1L V6 and found that the the exhaust crossover manifold runs right next to the thermostat housing, making it look impossible to remove the thermostat housing without removing the exhaust manifold as well. Does anybody know of an easier way to change my thermostat?

[brass_monkey93]

Originally Posted by anyideas

I attempted to change the thermostat on my 1996 Corsica 3.1L V6 and found that the the exhaust crossover manifold runs right next to the thermostat housing, making it look impossible to remove the thermostat housing without removing the exhaust manifold as well. Does anybody know of an easier way to change my thermostat?

this is a simple job. to make life easier you will want to take off the air intake baffling. then you need to just loosen the thermostat housing, you do not need to take the bolt out all the way. the housing has a slit in it so all you need to do is loosen it.

[Speednis]

I must disagree with this post. I know its old, buts its misleading, so I felt it needed to be corrected. This weekend I set out to replace the waterpump on my mother-in-law's '94 corsica, 3.1L. I thought the thermostat was overdue as well, so I searched and found this thread, that said the job was 'simple'. While the water pump took me only an hour and a half or so, I spent the rest of the day wrestling with the two bolts that hold on the thermostat housing. As the original poster says, access to the lower bolt is blocked by the exhaust crossover manifold, and the upper bolt is blocked as well. I got the upper bolt off, and loosened the bottom one, but, you cannot simply slide the thermostat housing off. The old thermostat still inside the housing blocks you from sliding the housing back far enough to get it off the bolt. I had to completely remove the 1/2" bolt turning it a quarter at a time for what seemed like hours, bent over the hood. It is now one day later and my lower back still hurts. If you have large hands like me, its nearly impossible to get at with a regular 1/2 in. combo wrench, which is the only tool I know of that is small enough to do the job. I dropped the wrench and had to retrieve it with my telescopic magnet countless times, and alot of swearing was involved. So if you are dead set on doing this job yourself, make sure you've set aside plenty of time.

[punk_rock101]

taking of that hose that goes from the thermostat housing to the water reservuar(sp?) makes jiggling that pain in the butt housing and the thermostat a little bit easier. i took off my throttle body when i replaced it. im not sure which is easier wrestling with the housing or taking off the throttle body. its all in the technique

it only took me about 6 hours to work on that, the alternator, the egr valve and the iac valve on the tb

[tblake]

why not just remove the throttle body to gain better access to the top t-stat bolt? Plus while your there you can clean the carbon out of it. also with the tb out of the way it makes it a lot easier to us a 13mm wrench on the bottom bolt of the t-stat housing.

Its really not that big of a job doing it this way. Just make sure to install a new tb gasket.

[maxwedge]

Look at the age of this thread!!