91lxstang

im changed my thermo in my car even though the motor may be screwed. Well the gasket they gave me with the thermo leaked like crazy out of the bottom part. i tired redoing it all several times but it kept leaking. After taking off and removing the thermostat housing elbow so many times, the bottom right corner where the bolt goes in cracked off. So i had to buy a new elbow. I dont mind that because the new one is like cast iron or sumthin and much more well made than the stocker. Its alot thicker in certain areas. So this time i took this special rtv gasket maker that is specifically made for thermostat housing gaskets and other coolant gaskets like that. I used it and now it still leaks out of the same area (bottom of housing where thermostat sits). WTF? am i not doin sumthin right?

91lxstang

i guess ill just take it off and redo it all today after work

mattdel

something is obviously wrong, either the gasket surface wasn't cleaned/prepped like it should have been, or your over-tightening.

alec3369

Ihad the SAME exact problem. I changed that elbow about 4 times. I finally got it to stop leaking and then i blew the gasket out a few weeks later. i doubled up the gaskets and put gasket sealer suff on it also and it seems to be working now.... also, make sure that the thermostat stays in place when your tightening down the elbow piece becuase one problem i had was caused by the thermostat being crooked, which caused it to leak.

tmajikman

I had the same problem, I tightend mine until I thought my bolts might snap and that did the trick.

67mustang302

I've had that problem as well, and it usually comes from the thermostat slipping down out of the receiver and preventing the housing from seating properly with the manifold(it ends up angled so the blottom of thehousing is sitting away from the manifold). Try setting the thermostat in the receiver in the housing, then using gaskacinch or rtv(I like ultra grey) on the side of the gasket that goes onto the housing, once it tacks up place it on there, let it set a bit,and it should be enough to hold the thermo in place while you mount it. That's what thing I don't like about SBF's, the stupid orientation of the thermostat....why couldn't they just make it sit on top instead of the side?