Not all coolant leaks mean blown headgaskets!!!!

[Compensating]

Smelled the infamous smell.... dreaded the infamous thought of having bad headgaskets... The valley under the upper plenum was full of coolant...

almost freaked out...

after disassembly... found out it was from a bad thermostat gasket..

went ahead and replaced upper plenum gaskets ($32.00 at dealer) and swapped in a roe 172 thermostat and gasket ($49.00 with fed-ex)

oh.. and dont forget the PCV valve... ($2.43 at walmart )

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[Ron]

172 degrees seems low. What made you choose that versus a 180?

Thanks

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

Most bad headgaskets are on Gen 1's

 

[Compensating]

172 was the only temp I could find quickly...

and.. wichita has well over 110 deg days in the summer..

it still hovers around 190-200 though during normal driving..

I used to run a 160 deg in and old 302 of mine.. it seemed to run stronger yet the heater never really was the same.. dont think I really need a heater in the viper though... but it still seems to work ok..

 

[Da1cop]

I had the same problem.

 

[2001 GTS]

Me too...leaked coolant from there for a long time.

I put a 172 thermostat in there when I replaced it

 

[V10 ACR]

How difficult is it to remove the manifold and replace the thermostat? The fuel rails freak me out, are they difficult to remove without spraying fuel everywhere? Any photo how-to guides posted? Thanks.

 

[2001 GTS]

There is a quick release on the line somewhere. But I just unscrewed the line from the fuel rail...fuel pours out...but only for a few seconds..lol