I want to change out my thermostat in my car, 02 pontiac sunfire , 2.2 4 spd auto.

My haynes manual recomends opening the relief valve on the bottom right hand of the rad, to drop the level of coolant below the thermostat , or about a gallon.

I seen on a couple of other posts that the little thingie is a white plastic doohicky, so when I looked at the underside of the rad , it has a lot of plastic guarding around the edges of the rad, does any of this need to be removed or should the drain plug be able to drain out without splashing and redirecting the coolant stream when I open it.

Tux

You're gonna have to face the facts: coolant coming out of our setup WON'T always go where you want it to go. But if you give the plug a gentle turn to the left until it stops and then pull it towards you, the stream SHOULD go straight forward and be easy to catch. You'll need a 1/4" extension/ratchet to turn the plug (if it's the one with the square in the middle)

Quote:


You're gonna have to face the facts: coolant coming out of our setup WON'T always go where you want it to go

Oh I found that out with the oil change, less than half a cup of oil and i got this 3 foot long stain on the drive way.Thanks for the advice.

Tux