86 se thermostat flips in housing need help

[nick97gst]

My 86 fiero se 2.8 V6 actualy crushes the tower on top of the thermostat when i run it up past 4000 rpms i thought it was getting air from somewere so i did the head gaskets and now it runs great and everything but when i get on it the thermostat flips sideways in the housing any ideas PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

[Scrapper]

i've really never heard of this but dose it crack the housing on it? and do you get the o.e thermostat or a autozone crap or advanced? if so i'd go to get one off of dealer.

[nick97gst]

it actualy bends one of the bars that hold it down and just sits in the housing sideways and the temperature gauge goes to zero and yes i got it from autozone

[Scrapper]

i'd go ahead and get one from dealer then and if it does it on theres they may have had a recall on that......good luck...

[Ragtop_Renegade]

First and foremost, YES, change that thermostat. You get exactly what you pay for. When it comes to aftermarket replacement parts, what you paid for may not even be correct. I lost count of the number of times I was given the wrong part for an application.

If it doesn't say AC-Delco or Genuine GM, it's typically not worth wasting your time. Even if you are forced to go aftermarket for an obsoleted part, at least have the sense to buy a well know brand, not some no-name bargain basement piece.

OK, enough preaching from the church of OEM. You should also check the fluid levels- Fiero coolant levels are CRITICAL!! this CAN NOT BE OVERSTRESSED. The car should be on FLAT ground when checked - even a slight incline or decline will cause overfilling and/or trapped air pockets.

It is possible to have a warped/distorted housing. The thermostat should fit snug - not forced in, but also not sloppy.

Lastly, mineral deposits and such common to a 20 year old car can restrict coolant flow - when flow goes down, pressure goes up. Sure, everyone uses distilled water so that's not too big of a deal, right? Unless you can personally name every person that has ever added or changed antifreeze, flush the entire system - use heavy duty cleaning agents designed for this, and be thorough - deposits can dislodge from one place and then get stuck in another - such as a head's narrow passages, the radiator, and so forth. If you don't want the environmental hassles associated with a cooling system flush, find a shop you trust. This is fastest and best anyway as they have special high tech, high priced, fancy-pants flush machines you and I can't justify buying. Even if you don't get this far fixing your amazing somersaulting 'stat, do it anyway - cooling system maintenance is far cheaper then cooling system repairs.

[nick97gst]

thanks for the help i did flush the entire system already when i did the head gaskets but i went and got an ac delco thermostat and i think it worked we'll see tommorow thanks again