100%
When I removed the upper hose usually it won’t ‘gush’ until you pull the thermostat. I pulled the hose and it gushed about 1 quarts. Upon removing the thermostat, yep. Stuck wide open.
The thermostat was replaced. Engine still takes a bit to warm up, but it makes it to 195′ as expected. Upon driving it hovers around 190-200. In town with reduced air flow, it hits about 215ish and then the electric fan kicks on and it maintains about 210 at that point.
Seems about right. I reset the CEL and will give it a few short drives to ensure it’s okay. As a side note, the radiator hoses now have a bit of pressure build up.
I called around and the cheapest one I found at the dealership was $42 plus tax. We’re on a shoestring budget, so I went with the NAPA house brand. Also, a “Motorad” which was the same brand that failed. The ‘cheap’ one seems to be doing well. The ‘premium’ one has a brass-colored collar/ring inside the ‘hat’ that holds the wax pellet. The thermostat seems to have opened and kicked sidewise and caught on the insert/collar and the entire thing tilted and jammed open.
I did refill the overflow jug. Drove it around about 20 miles… Level didn’t change. (This thing is a PITA to purge air) This morning the level was down about 2″ from yesterday. I’ll keep an eye on it. Wish I had the $$ for that vacuum assist refilling system I’ve seen used. That’s wicked cool.
Thanks!!
S-