I had the dreaded... "Oh no, why's my temp gauge heading above its
normal stopping point!" It turned out to be just a bad thermostat,
however, swapping it out was involved enough to warrant a "procedure"
- keep in mind, this was just my experience and some of the observations I made
while doing the repair.
First Off... I removed the stuff in the way (from what I hear, this may only
apply to '92 and '93 968's because some of the under-hood plastic was deleted on
later models).
Remove
the front "glove box" by rotating retaining clips at far left and
right corners, then the unit should lift up in the back and slide back toward
engine / air box, allowing it to come out.
Undo the (8) clips for the top of the air box and also undo the
(2) clips that secure to the throttle body.
The air box is held by a couple of bolts through some L shaped
tabs and there are rubber grommet type isolators in the back that can be
carefully removed so as not to damage them (reach up from beneath the
grommet and pinch the edges toward the center). Another thing... remove
the air intake snout that protrudes through a hole toward the front bumper (a
short handled Philips screwdriver works well to remove the two screws that
secure the snout to the air box). This will allow the air box to come out
much easier.
Once that
stuff is out of the way, it's easy to see the thermostat housing. The
thermostat is located inside where the large inlet hose is connected.
Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures while I was doing the procedure,
so you'll just have to figure some of this out by doing it (it's pretty self explanatory
after you're in there).
Changing the thermostat
is an excellent chance to flush your radiator, so I'd recommend draining the
radiator then doing a proper flush after installing the new thermostat. I
had just put in new fluid so I tried to get by without draining everything
(which it would have been easier just to drain it in retrospect). There's a plastic drain plug
located in the lower left (driver's side) corner of the radiator. If this
isn't fast enough for you, go ahead and disconnect the main hose that's going to
the thermostat housing (it's the center hose shown in the photo to the right -
something that will just get in the way while you're trying to work
anyways).
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Thermostat Replacement Page 2