Need some help here...

New to the forum, not brand new at boating, but fairly inexperienced. I have a 2005 VP 5.7Gi - EF and since I am about to start running it for the 4th season I thought I had better replace the thermostat as I boat 90% in salt water.

The problem comes in when I try to remove the thermostat from the housing, I thought that maybe it was just some corrosion holding it in there, but after crafting a tool with a hanger and pulling on it pretty hard it won't budge? Now I am sure there is something really stupid that I am not seeing due to the corrosion or just missing something.

Can anyone let me know how to get this thermostat out? Also, after opening the housing it has become painfully obvious that I have a good deal of corrosion inside the water jackets, thermostat housing, etc. Is there a way to get rid of some that black gunk without damaging any other seals or gaskets? Some type of heavy duty flush perhaps?

Thanks a bunch in advance and I look forward to being humbled.

Cheers,

Patrick

Re: Need some help here...

Its not obvious but there is an O-Ring holding the thermostat in there.

Part #3 is what I am referring to in the following diagram:

http://www.dougrussell.com/partscat...,3270,3269,3271,3265,3266,3273,3275,3268,3267

Manifolds and risers are good for around 3 or 4 years in salt. You may want to pull the risers and do an inspection. There have been many recent posts discussing the subject. Do a search to see what you find.

Flushing with a chemical is not going to help you much at all. Do you flush with fresh water after you finish for the day? You also may want to invest in a Neura-Salt system. I put one on my boat.

Re: Need some help here...

bruceb58 said:

Its not obvious but there is an O-Ring holding the thermostat in there.

Part #3 is what I am referring to in the following diagram:

http://www.dougrussell.com/partscat...,3270,3269,3271,3265,3266,3273,3275,3268,3267

Manifolds and risers are good for around 3 or 4 years in salt. You may want to pull the risers and do an inspection. There have been many recent posts discussing the subject. Do a search to see what you find.

Flushing with a chemical is not going to help you much at all. Do you flush with fresh water after you finish for the day? You also may want to invest in a Neura-Salt system. I put one on my boat.

Click to expand...

I always flush with fresh water and every other time I use a "Salt-Away" or some similar product connected to the hose to flush the engine and outdrive. I don't think I have a riduculous amount of corrosion, just some black gunk build-up that nobody would want in their motor.

I had just noticed the diagram on the VP website as well, but my next dumb question, how do I get the o-ring out as it seems to be held in place between the thermostat and the housing? I just have to be missing something......

As for Neutra-Salt, I thought about it, but for the cost of buying the system and installing it, I can buy 20 gallons of "Salt-Away" and take 15 minutes to flush the motor with a hose. I figured I would be rinsing the boat down with a fresh water hose anyway, so another 10-15 minutes is really my only cost.

Thanks!!

Patrick

Re: Need some help here...

I just use a very small screwdriver and pry it out.

As far as what you are doing with your flushing, you are doing a good job and probably won't get much better results.

I probably do overkill. Before I take my boat out of the water, I run the neutra-salt for the designated time before shutting down. When I arrive home, I do a fresh water flush and also do the neutra-salt one more time. This way the water that is in the block has the neutra-salt solution to take care of any salt that is in the porous block.

The system that I bought was pretty inexpensive. If I remember correctly, it was around $150.