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[Mark_J]

I bought the thermostat at the e-bay web page as suggested, good service, it arrived this morning.

Trouble I have, is how much stuff has to come off to get at the old one?

How long should this take?  

Do I have to touch the timing belt/pulleys to get access to the thermostat housing?

Ta

MJ

[Mark_J]

Can anyone offer any advice on this, I have an old Haynes Manual (from the 2.5 cdx I had before this 3.2) and the engine is totally different.

I cant see how to get access to the housing on the thermostat without stripping half the engine apart, is there an easy way to do this?

Many thanks

MJ

[Kevin Wood]

It's fairly well buried on the V6 and has been described within the last week or two here.

Certainly the plenum and inlet manifold will have to come off and the bolt that holds the transfer pipe to the passenger side of the engine is notoriously difficult to get to. :-/

Kevin

[Mark_J]

Thanks Kevin, I have had a good look around at it (well, as much as I can see) and it looks a right sod of a job.  Not much access even with the plenum and inlet mani off.

I might just cheat for now and put something over the radiator inlet to cut down the efficiency until I feel like spending all weekend messing around with spanners.

Sigh!

[Mark_J]

Sheesh, I just read the post by Big Rog, thanks for referring me to look for it Kevin.

I have no locking kit for the pulleys so I am gonna leave it for a while, bugger!

[Mike Collins]

If the 3.2 is similar to the 2.6 you do not need to remove the timing belt or covers.

You will have to remove the plenum, throttle body and inlet bridge, but not the inlet manifolds if my memory is correct.

The biggest problem I found was the transfer pipe, it's hard to remove its bolt and the pipe itself is extremely difficult to separate from the thermostat housing.

I ended up using a small die grinder to cut a groove in the thermostat housing, it's scrap anyway. A large screwdriver then cracked away enough of the housing to separate the the two.

Levering on the transfer pipe mounting lug to help separation is risky, on a previous car I broke the pipe that way.

Getting the transfer pipe bolt back in is another challenge.
 
Allow plenty of time, spare O rings for the transfer pipe you should be alright.

[Big_Roger]

Hi All,
I had the opportunity to see a 2.2 thermostat / cambelt etc arrangement yesterday. It is NOT the same as the 3.2
 
On the 3.2 the top tensioner pulley does not sit more or less in the centre of the two inlet camshaft drive pulleys. It is much closer to the bank 3 & 4 inlet valve cam drive pulley, this brings the support bracket ito the space you need to get the thermostat out.

If possible combine this job with a cambelt change, otherwise you will have to take out the lower inlet manifold and bridge assembly.

The reason I was given for this is, that by altering the number of belt teeth between the two inlet pulleys it altered the harmonics of the sound produced, so making the belt quieter. (Iv'e got a tool kit, but I can't play the piano, so I remain sceptical about this !)

I can only agree about the transfer pipe fixing bolt, it is a sod, access is difficult with a Torx socket and ratchet, but I found it much easier to undo with a offset cranked ring spanner. You will find that one of the old imperial size 3/8" will fit the Torx head OK
when I put it back, I replaced the bolt with a normal 8mm Hex head bolt I could then use a ratcheting ring spanner. Much easier.

As you have to turn the transfer pipe anti clock to get it from behind the dipstick pipe I found Mole grips would do this. I think any one doing this job should also get a new transfer pipe in case.
Although mine was OK, the one I saw on the 2.2 had obviously been leaking a bit at the "O" rings, and was corroded so difficult to turn.

Roger

[Mark_J]

Thanks for the info Mike and Roger, I look forward to having a go at this next weekend!