Thermostat confusion Chevy Malibu 2008 LTZ 3.6 VVT

[Ryan Foster]

What I thought would be a few hour project has turned into one confusing day. Advance Auto, Autozone, and the dealership all told me on the phone that only the entire housing with the thermostat included was available even though I was able to order the thermostat by itself from Advanced Auto just by putting the car info in and it popped up.
After leaving AA I decided to compare the thermostats. The one they sold me didn’t have a seal on the flange that goes into the housing, it was just metal. The one that came out of the car had a rubber seal around the edge of that flange. So I took it back in to ask and they told me I need to get an o-ring that they didn’t have in stock. I ended up going all the way across town to an Autozone and they sold me an o-ring that I have no idea where they think it goes.
So my question is this…. is this new one supposed to be installed like this with a metal on metal fitment in the housing?
This has becomes really confusing and very unexpected. Anybody have a clue about this? Thanks

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[Ryan Foster]

Wasn’t sure how to delete my post so I figured I’d finish it since somebody else might run into this issues. I ended up getting a Gates 34163 from O’reilly Auto Parts and it came with the rubber seal on the flange.

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