"Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom" (jeremyhampson)
02/23/2014 at 20:26 • Filed to: None
2
10|
"Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom" (jeremyhampson)
02/23/2014 at 20:26 • Filed to: None | 2
| 10 |
So, trying to work through a strange overheating problem on my 86 Honda Accord, I decided the best and easiest way to try and tackle it was to replace my thermostat, pretty easy 30 minute job right?
Well, at least that is how it began. Did the whole thing, struggled for 20 minutes getting off all the hoses and old ass clamps, took everything off, let it drain out, soaked up all the coolant with some towels and then began putting things back together with the new parts.
So, put in my new thermo, with the housing, slapped on my gasket along with some sealant, and put it on, decided I wanted to be frisky and try to do an exact torque spec. Well, at, what was it, 20 ft pds, pretty hard to hear the click with my wrench - I ended up going past the click, and I busted the head off of one of the bolts.
That is when my heart sank, I busted a bolt off of inside the thermostat housing. And this was my first dumbass decision of the day, I said fuck it, decided to try and load up the coolant anyways, and, big surprise there was a leak. So, I thought it was the universe telling me not to be a lazy prick, so I took it off, and luckily it broke off at the head, so I was able to get it off with some pliers.
So I ran down to the Pepboys I always go to (say what you will, I've been there an ungodly amount of times because of my Honda, and their techs at this location at least are good, and when they fuck up they fix everything for me in a god damn hurry), and the guy I'm asking for help is one of the guys that have seen me in there a bunch of times, does me a solid and just throws me 2 new bolts for my thermo housing for free. So I head back home, do everything up, decide not to torque things up, just put them tight, and, it should work now right? Nope, there is still a leak.
So, I take my time scrubbing off all the surfaces, cleaning everything, putting sealant on the thermo housing, when it hits me, my number 1 rule when I work on cars is to ALWAYS keep the parts I took off, until the new parts are working 100%, for cases like these so I can use them as a reference. So I look at the old thermostat, what do I see? The gasket that goes on the actual thermostat, I feel like an absolute dumbass.
So, I take off the old gasket, (I know not the smartest move but I didn't have a new one) slap it on the thermo housing, use the sealant to seal it to the thermostat so to compensate for it being old and having a few cracks until my new one comes in.
So, I put it in, I do a good job sealing both sides, put it all together, and fire it up. What do you know, no leaks!
So, just wanted to share with all of you some dumbassery, and the moral of the story is, even if you think you've got every angle covered, you might miss something, so always keep everything you take off of a car just in case you missed something.
Goodnight oppo!
XJDano
> Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
02/23/2014 at 20:41 |
|
I reused my old T-stat seal, it was in good shape still.
|
Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
> XJDano
02/23/2014 at 20:45 |
|
Mine was okay, some cracks nearer to the thermo, but I didn't have a choice either way so I used my RTV and put it on every crack, and then put it on where the gasket meets the thermo, so as to seal it to the thermo to give some added strength. It seemed to work alright, I'm just going to put a new one on whenever it comes in, but I'm not worried about it. I just like that added piece of mind to be honest.
oldirtybootz
> Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
02/23/2014 at 20:59 |
|
If you can't RTV it, fuck it.
|
Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
> oldirtybootz
02/23/2014 at 21:02 |
|
Shit man I should have took a picture of the old gasket I put on, that shit was more RTV that old seal, it was glorious haha
Destructive Tester
> Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
02/23/2014 at 22:15 |
|
Hell, I've been using RTV as an extra gasket on the oil filter cover on my dirt bike for about 5 years now. For some reason the cool, anodized cover I got with my stainless steel filter just never seemed to quite seal right. I've tried changing the O-ring a couple times and it still seeps a bit of oil, one day after an oil change I said screw it I'll try using a thin film of RTV as a gasket and it's worked like a champ. Now redoing the RTV is an additional step in every oil change.
|
Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
> Destructive Tester
02/23/2014 at 22:23 |
|
I love rtv, it creates gaskets the way gaskets are actually supposed to work
timateo81
> Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
02/24/2014 at 05:28 |
|
You have an '86 accord? Nice
|
Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
> timateo81
02/24/2014 at 08:31 |
|
It's not a bad car at all. When you really look at it hard, if you start with the fuel injected engine you can take it in any direction you want. The chassis and engine is llike a blank canvas
|
timateo81
> Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
02/24/2014 at 08:45 |
|
My family had a '91 sedan back in the early '90s. T'was the first car I ever drove. It was very light and nimble, and a blast to drive. Steering response was great, acceleration was enough to have fun. My family continued to own accords through the years and each product cycle it got a little more numb. So two comments:
A) You have a fine car, and
B) I can't remember the last time I saw a 28-year-old Accord. Again, nice job.
|
Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
> timateo81
02/24/2014 at 08:50 |
|
Appreciate it. I picked the thing up for 800 dollars in barely driveable condition, but the only major things I had to do were rear control arms, both cv axles, and gas filler neck, the rest is just small maintenance stuff, and each time I do something it just seems to run better, it's just my DD, but I'm seriously tempted to take a couple grand and just completely go through it and make it new.
And I'm always happy to hear that people appreciate my little DD, a lot of people don't really appreciate the old school Honda's and Toyota's anymore, and it's sad, so as a result they get sent to the crusher. Some guy on the 3g forums just said he sent his SE-i to the crusher, it's like, holy shit dude those are rare enough as it is!