My first thermostat/housing/related goodies change and apparently the xj's too. This is what I'm working with. I'm guessing the whole surface is designed completely flat and should be looking like the 1 to 3 o'clock smooth portion to the right of the bolt hole in the pic.

I've been chiseling away to get there, but I'm getting a little worried with how aggressive I can be with it. I'm afraid of gouging the surface. Is there a type of solvent that might help? Other tricks?

 

Crisis averted. I hope. I also hope it's a very forgiving and effective gasket!

 

Just an old paper gasket with dried permatex. Elbow grease is needed.

 

A thin layer of water pump RTV sealer on BOTH sides of the new gasket will fill-in/seal small scratches/gouges in both the head and stat cover gasket surfaces.

 

Sandpaper laid over a FLAT piece of metal works well for the final touch.

 

If you do a bunch you can't beat a 3M Roloc bristle disc & a die grinder.

 

We're not talking about your hair care products here...........

 

They make a gasket remover, permatex that is. And a razor scraper will get that off easy.

 

For getting the worst of the gunk off, yes, but for the final finish, especially if you have some gouges or nicks, lay a full sheet of fine sandpaper on a thick piece of FLAT piece of metal, and then rub the housing on the sandpaper. Now you aren't just cleaning off gunk, you are making sure the housing itself is perfectly FLAT.

The metal piece needs to be machined flat and thick enough to hold its shape - sheet metal won't do.

 

A new housing is only $20 or so might not have been that much when I replaced mine. Seems like it was about the same price as the safety type thermostat (can only lock up in the open position if it fails).

Anyway it was too cheap not to replace with a new one.

 

Tracy,

Does this mean you managed to get it cleaned up?

 

I did. Many overdue thanks - subsequent (uncharacteristic ha) silence due to second leg of project...WP.


Got that out, cleaned up, replaced (using RTV finger-painting skills learned in the TStat responses herein). So, TStat and housing won't actually make it in til tonight after work (WP used all daylight and patience yesterday).


Related concern...I picked up a new WP outlet (? it threads in at top left of WP and connects to heater hose), but could NOT get it threaded all the way into the WP. Tried to gingerly use a vise, but still only half threaded (even had the man give it a go...nothing). So....bad gamble there? Will it leak? Should I take out the new WP again to figure that out or do you suppose it'll be ok? Outlet was a Dorman, WP was a Napa, but my guess is they should fit each other.

 

Yup, I just finger-paint over any heavy gouges and lay a thin and even coat of RTV along the rest of it.
I usually use a wirebrush or scotch-brite pad on my drill to get it nice and shiny without any real elbow grease though.

I used a felpro gasket on both the waterpump and thermostat gasket, zero leaks here.

DEFINATELY get rid of the crappy stock compression hose-clamps and get a set of stainless steel worm-drive circular clamps. The stock ones are only good for quick assembly and mine were not holding proper tension any more...

 

Put some sealant on the outlet tube treads and tighten it down until it faces aft.

Keep the OEM clamps on the hoses. There is no better clamp on the market.

You have experience with worm clamps on trans oil cooler "Fix" hoses don't you.

 

I have an AX-15 so not really

I dealt with weeping coolant and heater hoses for like 3 months before I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to standard SS hose-clamps. Instantly fixed the weeping issue and I stopped loosing coolant. I reseated the damn spring clamps every weekend with no change previously.

Maybe mine were really worn, but I dont think they had ever been removed prior to me re-vamping the cooling system. I threw them straight in the trash after I upgraded and never looked back.

These are what I am talking about;