1998 Chevy Venture Thermostat
Asked by Dsellow Jan 28, 2007 at 09:40 AM about the 1998 Chevrolet Venture
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Bovan:
Thank you very much for your response! I found similar documentation yesterday online. However, I spent 6 hours under the hood trying unsuccessfully to remove the thermostat on a 3.4 liter engine. There is a pipe with a sheet metal cover over it that runs across the engine and through the firewall. Could be part of the exhaust system. Without removing that pipe it is impossible to get a socket (9/16) to get on the bolt. You can get a wrench on it, although you cannot see the bolt, but tou may have less than an inch of space to operate. Any help would be appreciated!
6 Answers
Looks like you are going to have to remove the pipe. There is a flexible wrench extension that you can buy for tough to reach places, might be worth a shot.
I just changed the thermostat in a 2001 3.4 litre Venture. Four hours. It was not easy. I had to remove the rubber boot for the intake and use a 13mm open end wrench and keep flipping it over for 1/12 turns. The top bolt was easy, the bottom one was slow and tedious. It was hard to put the lower bolt back in. I had to make an open end sheet metal holder to get it in place and press it in with a long screwdriver while turning the wrench. There must be an easier way but it was not obvious. The bolts for the sheet metal over the exhaust were rusted and would have broken off . Good luck. Prepare for lots of patience. I would be interested if someone has a better way.
Remove the throttle body and most of the time u can reuse the gasket if not there cheap. there is a metal pipe with a braket that is sucured to the lower t-body mounting bolt/stud. its not that hard once its off. done hundreds do it in and hour
If anyone is still there......any tips on getting the housing/t-stat out? I was able to get the bolts loose, using the tips, but can't get the housing out because of the exhaust crossover pipe.
it can be done without removing exhaust as bigblue described as i have also done it many times, u just have to be creative , the rear bolt hole on some housings are slotted so you dont have to remove bolt completely making reinstall much easier , but requires rotate housing out to rear and down to remove
cronicfarmer answered 11 years ago
if you do what bigblue said it will work it is not easy and takes a little ime but it will work and it is a common problem with it
