[nohsreg2000]

Comming home saturday night from the Austin gathering Had a coolant leak. It is from the rear of the block and I can see coolant on the starter on the drivers side. Everyone agrees it is the thermostat housing. perhaps the gasket just had enough. What is the easiest way to change this. It looks like a real bitch. Take off the manifold ect.ect....

If it is not the thermostat gasket what else could it be and what should I be looking for??

I am more than capable of doing this job myself and have the tools. But if anybody has had similar experience please let me know with as much detail as possable(torque specs, tips, ect...) or if you know of a good link.

BTW the car is a gen 1 RT-10


IF David Weaver reads this, What might you or another viper tech charge??? And who would you recomend in San Antonio. I would love to take it to you David (your reputation is impressive and I am sorry I missed dyno day) But I dont want to drive it to Austin leaking like it is.

 

[Snake Bitten]

If it is not the thermostat gasket what else could it be and what should I be looking for??

There are two thermostat gasket locations to check. One is for the "real" thermostat gasket, the other is for the two legs of the thermostat housing, one to each cylinder head. Each leg looks like a little intake runner and the rectangular gasket seems to fail easily. The good news is it makes a big mess, although it's a minor problem.

Replace both gaskets, and install silicon hoses at the same time...

 

[Roadkill]

Sounds like the thermostat gasket/crossover gasket failed.. good news is that the gaskets are like $6 each (I think you need 4) There is a post on the .org site with the parts numbers.. do a search on crossover.. Bad news is it is a pain in the ass to do.. a good tech can change it without removing the intake manifold.. they can remove the wiper cowling and have enough room in there. Otherwise, you'll need to pull the intake to get to it (4+ hour job I've heard) Let us know how it goes..

 

[DW]

IF David Weaver reads this, What might you or another viper tech charge??? And who would you recomend in San Antonio. I would love to take it to you David (your reputation is impressive and I am sorry I missed dyno day) But I dont want to drive it to Austin leaking like it is. [/quote]

Sounds like the thermostat housing gaskets. I do also have a shop in San Antonio, Schertz actually, that I do weekend projects in. I will be more than happy to come down and help you out. BUT, I will be offshore fishing this weekend!!! PM me and we will discuss further. David