$200 to change a thermostat, damn, it is a 15 minute job. Always helps to have the right tool for the job tho. I changed mine and don’t remember any problems or special tools required. Good luck to you. Buy a $15 Haynes manual and the right tool you need and you will still save over $150 bucks.
I finally got the last bolt out. My socket wrench could not fit so I had to buy a good old 10mm box wrench. You know, the ones which are a solid piece of metal. I wish I got a ratcheted one though! Took me forever to loosen up and then tighten that last bolt up!
Oh one more thing, a looong rod with a magnet at the end helps a lot too,. Twice, I dropped a bolt down and it got stuck where the speedometer cable meets the transmission. It’s too far to reach and the only way out it up! What a pain in the $%#%#%!!!
…speaking of dropping things down in the engine compartment, am I the only one the dropped their rotor screw down in the back of the engine? That was a biotch, had to look thru many jars of screws to find one that matched well. I have dropped sockets, wrenches, clamps, screwdrivers, flashlights, doobies, opps, well, you get the idea. Now I stuff a towel under the area I am working. I have a habbit of looking down the driveway to see if any of my items have dropped back out.
I just had to post how long it took me to replace the @#$%% thermostat so you guys could get a good laugh. Once day I’ll get it down to 15 min
Sat:
10 am: Started taking intake hose off Integra to reach
thermostat
10:15 am: Drained coolant
10:30 am: loosened 1/3 bolts on thermostat housing
10:35 am: dropped bolt into the Black hole of Japanese
car engine bays
10:36 am: shit shit shit
10:37 am: searching the whole house for magnets
10:40 am: first magnetic contraption fails
10:45 am: starting to magnetize screwdrivers by
brushing them with a magnet
10:50 am - 11:30 am: failed attempts to retrieve bolts
11:30 - 12:30 lunch
12:35 pm: I can’t believe it, I fished the #$%@#$ bolt
out
12:40 pm: removed bolt 2/3
12:45 pm: shit, socket wrench will not fit in crevice
to remove bolt 3/3. shit shit shit
12:50 pm: run to Osh to buy a set of metric box
wrenches. Hey, at least there’s no sales tax this
weekend!
1:30 pm: starting to loosen bolt 3/3 with new box
wrench. damn, I can only move the bolt 3 degrees at a
time
1:50 pm: bolt 3/3 removed!
2:00 pm I took the old thermostat out!
2:05 pm: shit, the piece of shit replacement
thermostat from Krappen looks like shit compared to
the original one
2:10 pm: Off to Sunnyvale Acura to get an OEM
thermostat
3:30 pm: back with new thermostat
3:45 pm: thermostat installed, putting bolt 1/3 in.
3:46 pm: shit dropped bolt into black hole
again!!!
4:00 pm: fished bolt out
4:05 pm: tightened bolt 1/3
4:06 pm: putting bolt 2/3 in
4:07 pm: SHIT! DROPPED BOLT INTO BLACK HOLE AGAIN EVEN
THOUGH I PLUGGED THE #$$@#$%%$# HOLE WITH A TOWEL. I’M
GETTING REALLY REALLY REALLY UNHAPPY
4:40 pm: Fished out bolt 2/3
4:45 pm: bolt 2/3 on but not tightened yet as it takes
forever
5:00 pm: too dark to continue…will finish tommorow.
Sunday
9:00 am: back to work
9:30 am: put everything back together
10:00 am: refilled with coolant
10:30 am: evreything checks out ok. OMG I can’t believe I finally DID IT!!!
O man thats great, took me about 6 hours cuz those damn bolts.
It took me 3 days to take a brake shim that got loose and started to make noise off, i broke off the lower caliper mounting bolt and had to have acura overnight me a new one
Yeah, I made use of a universal and a few different length extensions when I did my thermostat last weekend. I was also using quarter inch drive for the smaller size. And I had to use our magnet on a pole to grab the socket which fell down on the tranny out.