Thermostat Swap Out

[dmoff1698]

This weekend I decided to change the fluids in my 99 RSV, including a good radiator flush. One thing leads to another and decided after 10 years and 120K miles, I might as well change the thermostat while I was at it, even though I haven't been having problems.

 

First let me say this is not a job for those short on patience. To get the housing out of the bike it must be disassembled a piece at a time while still in the frame. Finally got the housing out THEN called my local stealer. Just the way I do things.

 

Holy $#%@..., stealer said he could have the new thermostat in two weeks, that is if I would bring him the paultry sum of $57.40. "For a @#$% thermostat? are you sure you"re not looking at the housing?" "No sir, the housing is pretty expensive.":starz:

 

Now I don't see anything special about this thermostat so off to the auto supply I go. "Hey buddy, you got one of these?" "Yep, sure do."

 

Sure enough, it is a Murray, Part Number 3168. Cross reference says that it goes into a 2000 Kia, Mazda, and Mercury. Best of all, $7.60 later and I'm out the door.

 

One other thing, when doing this on a bike with this many miles. The water pipes (3 ea) that go to the thermostat housing have an "O" ring seal. Mine looked good but refused to seal when I got it all back together. Take the rubber "O" rings with you and get replacements while getting your thermostat. Otherwise you can pull that housing twice like I did. Aw hell, they're $.30 each, go ahead and get them anyway, no mater how many miles you got!

 

Anyway, I figure if I had all the parts up front and only had to do it once, this would have been about a 3-4 hour job. Took me a full day.

[1BigDog]

I did almost the same thing to my 99 over the winter. Took the thermostat housing out, replaced the thermostat and the thermal switch and 2 of the 3 o-rings, mainly because the rear bolt on the back pipe wouldnt budge and since the other o-rings looked good I just left the rear one alone. Guess which one leaked?? Yep, the rear one. Took it all apart and finessed that stuck bolt out and found that o-ring was cracked pretty bad. I already had the parts on hand. Got my parts online and the thermostat was 30 something dollars. Glad you was able to find the right part elsewhere. Not a job for the faint of heart......

[N3FOL]

Goood job on the nice find on a replacement thermostat. As long as the quality is similar to the OEM thermostat, I also don't have any problems getting it from a NAPA store or Advance Auto. For a '99, glad to hear that you decided to replace the thermostat.

[tommycole]

What temp do the thermoststs open? Do you recomend leaving it stock?

Thanks

TC