Tstat change

[revolvingsteel]

How much coolant do I need to drain to change my thermostat? 2-3 Gallons? Thanks for any replies!

[belz]

I parked mine on my driveway with the front inclined down. Popped the hose off and tstat out. I would say I lost less than a gallon. Now on a level surface or inclined up, you lose a lot more. Something to consider. I also recommend spending the extra money and getting the billet tstat housing if you don't already have one.

[revolvingsteel]

Thanks, I did order dieselsites housing. I'm trying to drain (from the drain valve on the bottom of the radiator) the coolant and reuse it. I know I should flush and I intend to at some point, but I would like to get a new thermostat in asap. Mine is most likely stuck open. So with limited time and money I'm just planning to swap in a new thermostat tomorrow after work. My truck takes forever to get to temp, and its hard to even get to 180 on the OIL temp. My CTS won't read ECT.

[revolvingsteel]

I would say I lost less than a gallon

You mean you lost a gallon from the thermostat housing? Or you only had to drain a gallon from the radiator?

[Zaairman]

I'd drain a gallon or two from the radiator, but shouldn't need much more than that.

[revolvingsteel]

Did the swap. It all went smooth. For those interested in how much coolant needs to be drained to JUST change the thermostat, the answer is about 2 gallons (pretty good Zaairman!). Dieselsite recommends to just drain enough that the degas bottle is empty. Well thats pretty close, but if you squeeze the upper radiator hose you can feel if there is coolant still in it(no brainer). I let it out till there was no coolant in the hose then quit draining. Once the hose was off there was alittle in the neck of the thermostat housing so I drained for another maybe 10 seconds (BTW truck was on the level). You can watch the level go down in the neck of the housing. At that point it was just clean the area and swap. Got it put back together and no leaks what so ever, plus didn't even lose a half ounce of coolant. I realize that usually you do a flush or top off with this, but for those that have fresh coolant or ELC and just need to change the thermostat, this is an option! Thanks for all the help! Hope this answers questions similar to the ones I had.