how do you change the thermostat housing?

[fritzenberg 3]

do you take the front of the car off for easy access?

is it just held in by a couple of allen bolts or somthing?

cheers

[fritzenberg 3]

the stat i mean,not the front of the car.lol.

[Matt W 4]

3 allen bolts hold the thermostat housing to the cylinder head (2x long 1x short) think they are 5mm.

Make sure the allen key is correctly seated in the bolt when you undo to avoiding rouding the allen head!

[Matt W 4]

As for the housing that holds the actual thermostat in place is just two allen bolts. Prob easier to replace the lot of your going to the trouble of replacing the thermostat. As usually they warp over time with the heat so replacing one part of the thermostat housing can lead to sealing problems due to warping.

[xyber 1]

http://www.gti-vr6.net/library/engine/repl_VR6_therm_housing.html

and yes, but the new housings and seals as they go brittle and will probably leak when you put it back together, I bought my new housing on ebay for £5

[M4VTY 0]

I did mine on the weekend, its about a 2 hour job, first unplug the leads from the coil pack, make sure you mark them on what lead went where, remove the plastic housing above the coil pack, to remove the coil pack you need I think 6ml allen key.

unplug all the wires from the 3 sensors, the blue yellow and other one if you have it, on the side of the thermostat there is one allen key bolt holding the housing to the engine and 2 other long bolts"you will need a long allen key to remove this" the others you will be able to do with a small allen key. then unplug all the pipes to the thermostat housing and it should come of. For ease I would buy the themostat housing plus the bit that goes on the bottom.

take your time and try not to round off the heads on the allen key bolt's as this is very easy to do.

****Warning make sure the engine is cold when you do it the coolant get's hot enough to give severe burns***

P.S its easier to do with having the new thermostat housing to look at as you see where all the bolts are.

[vr6newcomer 1]

i did mine without removing the coilpack, bit more fiddly, also dont forget to get the new o rings for inside the switches.

[fritzenberg 3]

cheers for the replies folks