@Oldtimerunderground Did you start your thermostat adventure? How did the battle go?
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@chronix on Saturday I drained the coolant and disconnected/moved everything out of the way. I could reach the front bolt on the thermostat housing, but there was no way I could get the back one. I got a wrench on it but had no wiggle room at all, so I basically gave up, put everything back together, filled it up with some green coolant I found in the shed and called it a day.
Went to test drive it yesterday and was surprised to find everything working great. I drove for over half an hour without the engine overheating, and the heat coming through the vents is nice, no more freezin my nuts off 
You think itās possible the coolant was bad? I donāt think Iāve ever had that happen before. I think Itās at around 209k, when it first started overheating right away I was praying āPlease not the head gasket 
ā 
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I have always been told to never mix the two different anti freezes together. From what I remember it can turn into a jell and fuck shit up.
How much green did you use to fill it up?
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Aw shit I hope I didnāt fuk it up 
fukkk
I drained everything and used practically a whole jug to fill it.
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Could always drain it again, then fill it up with the dex cool.
I have known some people that switched from dex cool to regular green anti-freeze in GM vehicles but a good flushing is recommended.
Those motors are a pain in the ass to work on in my opinion. I had one in a Oldsmobile Alero, it had decent power. They are famous for the intake gaskets failing. Iāve done the intakes twice. Then the head gaskets started going, so I said fuck it and called a tow truck to tow it away for scrap.
Car had only 140k on it and was well taken care of before I got it.
To replace the serpentine belt on the Alero I had to undo a motor mount and jack the motor up to support it just to change the damn belt. I knew a guy that was a mechanic for 40 years that worked for GM and many other dealers, he said I was stupid and didnāt have to do that. I got him to take a look under the hood and he was like wholy fuck what a stupid design.
Yeahā¦I guess you can say I hate those motors.
Canāt remember how I changed the thermostat, but if a ratchet with extensions and swivels canāt get to it, I am know to make custom wrenches. (cut them, bend them etc.)
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Didnāt happen to remove the throttle body by chance.
. If Iām thinking correctly your t stat is under your air intake and by taking the 4 bolts out of the throttle body and moving aside it gives access to that back bolt.
Otherwise itās near impossible to get at.
Btw. 40 yr tech here with some older GM and fairly recent mazda dealership time.
Best of luck if you decide to give it another shot.
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It has been awhile for me but I am pretty sure you have to remove the throttle body.
Even if you got tiny hands I still donāt think you can get at it.
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The holes going thru the heater cores now adays are very tiny. Not like the old style that had big tubes. They smash these tiny heater cores into the dashes now and they clog. I use a wheel cleaning acid diluted and a electric plug in portable water pump and cycle acid thru the two heater hoses for a hour or so. Change coolant every 30 thousand miles with factory stuff. Always use factory parts on fords and Chevys
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@Oldtimerunderground
I got cheeched and started thinking of all the work I did to that car with the 3.4ā¦
And I had some memories pop up in the old noggin.
If I remember correctlyā¦
That bolt on the thermostat housing that you couldnāt get, the hard to access bitch bolt I believe it has a slotted hole. It is still a complete pain in the ass and takes forever to loosen it
but you do not have to completely remove the bolt, just loosen it enough to be able to slide/remove the thermostat housing. The thermostat might be stuck in the thermostat housing, so you can take a screw driver and pry the thermostat out of the housing so you can then slide it out.
Just saying in case you decide to attempt it again.
Some vehicles you can change a t-stat in 5 minutes. Not on the 3.4. 
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Past the rings , you wonāt see it but the fella on the highway behind you while youāre going up a hill will smell it .
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Very unlikely, IMO. Possible you had an air-lock or air-pocket from some earlier monkeying you done? 
I thought I had an air bubble issue trying to bleed a 2001 Malibu 3.1ā¦
Head gasket. both heads from the factory at 55k. my mom got dinged for 4k to have a crate motor put in & got about 400$ from the dexcool lawsuit. 
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Not a car guy, but marine mechanic for 40 years if I can help anyone. Specialize in Outboards and Stern drives. I love points and condensor ignition as opposed to CPUās and fuel injection. Our fuel in Canada and our seasons arenāt nice to the fancy non-maintainable crap they been pumping out (of Asia) since the early 2000ās.
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This is how we do
Itā¦
Cycle a heavily diluted A90āwheel
Cleaning acid acid thru the heater core for a hour or so. Should clear out the debris and get your water flow working properly again
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No, I unplugged it and was going to remove it, but didnāt cause I thought I could get the thermostat out without having to take the throttle off.
Thanks @Oldguy 
I think Iāll be giving it another go asap, canāt take any chances with winter hereā¦last thing I need is to be stuck in the cold.
Man I hope not. Same thing happened to me before on a chevy venture van. Now that I think of it 
on my montana it looks almost like white smoke is coming out the exhaust. I thought maybe it was from it being a bit chilly outsideā¦and the white isnāt really thick or heavy, but it could be a small leak in a gasket and coolant is getting through, fukk.
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@SkunkHunt101 thatās exactly how I pictured it from the way you described, pretty much the same way beer lines are cleaned with a pump. How dirty is the water after cycling it through the heater core? Filthy?
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It was extremely cruddy for sure. Even the most expensive stuff is just as crap. From BMW to Ford all the cars are junk now. Itās a apple computer on wheels driving thru snow sleet rain and mud. What could possibly go wrong. These car designers now are the worst in history. Totally stupid designs in every part of the car. They have zero mechanic knowledge. They design things like they are in a video game.They need called out on it as well. Idiots in the design firms.
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So true .
Why does car need a computer to monitor 35 different sub computer systems ?
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And you want to own a car with Windows that give you the BSOD on the display lol
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And thats exactly why Iām getting out of it. Fuck cars
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In motorcycles you canāt beat Yamaha for reliability. Iāve seen perfectly cop-maintained superbikes go 50k miles and still run like new. 20 year old high displacement twins start and run after sitting in a yard for years. Everything in between, worst thing people reasonably say is they boring.
How is Yamaha in your experience when it comes to marine?
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