#1238: AF on the road 9

It’s Wednesday.  The height of today’s amusement was replacing the thermostat in my sister’s Jeep and watching my 17-year-old niece scare away a small herd of cows with a green blanket.

The thermostat replacement was marred only by the fact that I didn’t have a decent set of tools.  Fortunately the thermostat housing is held onto the Jeep 4.0 L6 engine with two bolts with the same size heads.  The hardest part of the job was getting the thermostat to remain in place long enough to get the housing installed.

The gasket had adhesive on one side.  Theoretically, the idea was for the adhesive to hold the thermostat in place while the housing was installed.  Unfortunately, the adhesive was on the wrong side of the gasket, so that it stuck to the housing instead of the engine block.  If it had stuck to the engine block instead of the housing, it would have held the thermostat in place while I got the housing on, so naturally it was the opposite of that.

And, equally naturally, I was not bright enough to say, “Self, stick the gasket to the engine block with RTV (which I had bought along with gasket and thermostat) and then install the housing.”  *sigh*  Anyway, I got it buttoned up and refilled and tested, and I’m pleased.  The thermostat was OEM, and has over 100,000 miles on it.  Since the thermostat and gasket together cost less than $5 with tax, I figure it’s not such a big deal to replace it.  I am, though, going to recommend that my sister get the antifreeze changed before winter, because the stuff in there is in bad shape.

As for the cows, a section of electrified fence got knocked down somehow, and one cow was taking advantage of the situation by grazing in the front yard.  My niece chased them off by waving a blanket over her head and running at the animals.  It was pretty funny to watch, actually.