My dealer wants $310 to change my thermostat. I think that's insane.
My cobalt is coming upto temperature if I let it Idle for a bit, but as soon as I get upto speed it's dropping to around 110deg running temp. I can't imagine paying $310 for a $15 part change, but I cant even find the stinking thermostat. Where'd GM put it?

 

lol talk about an ass raping the stat is back side of the engine rite blow the cam pos sensoron the drivers side 3 10 mm bolts its out

 

Thermostats are eeeeeasy to do. I'd do it yourself. They're not expensive at all.

 

Do I need to take anything out to get to it?

Why didn't they just put it on the head like every other car made for the last 100 years?

 

Cause it is in the same spot as Saab puts theres.

 

I don't know. I actually havn't done it on the Balt yet. In my old car, I had to undo a clamp, remove hose, take it out. It was stupid easy.

 

I think I see the darn thing, but it's way under there. Does anyone know a trick to get it changed?

 

yup get swivel extension 6in and take the bolts out you dont need to drain the cooling system you will only loode about a quart and do not remove the pressure cap on the coolant tank and make sure its cold when you do it

 

on the balt it's stupid hard. stuck behind the engine by the firewall covered with ****.
it's 2.2 book hours..

 

My Tahoe took literally 5 minutes to swap it.

 

Think thats bad look where they put it for the Envoy with the I6.
Light Truck GMC 2005*ENVOY SLT 4WD*COOLING SYSTEM-GRILLE-OIL SYSTEM*2002-2008 ST RADIATOR HOSES (LL8/4.2S)* Car parts for your Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Hummer, Light Truck, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and more!
Book says to remove the alternator in order to change the thermostat. You can do it from the wheel well without taking out the alternator with about 2 ft of extensions but its a bitch. They are nice enough to combine the housing and thermostat into one unit so it costs you $50 for the theremostat instead of $15

By the way if you are ever lookking for illustrations of how things go together on our cars Compnine rocks.
http://www.compnine.com/

 

it isent that hard done mine in 20min

 

Its a pain in the ass cause its a tightttt space

 

it isent that bad

 

Ehh... considering the location of it on the Eco, that's not entirely unreasonable. Sure it's cheap little part.. but it's tucked under the exhaust manifold, between the engine & firewall. Takes a lil bit of labor to change one out.

 

lol when i done mine it took longer for me to get my tools out than it did to change it.

 

haha yup and coolant all over them **** sucks

 

I thought I found it until i saw your picture. Is that it on the left side of that horizontal pipe, which would be behind/under the exhaust manifold (which you have off in the picture)?

 

dude its right behind the cam position sensor and not under the ex manifold open your eyes if your mechanicaly inclined just a little u can change it in less then 30 minutes

 

You can pull the fusebox out to make it easier to get access to. I did mine last night.. took about an hour doing it that way.

 

If you have swivel sockets as mentioned earlier, it's a 15-25 minute job.

 

zzp should do a how to then

 

Grr.. I need to do mine too. Damn car goes to like 190°F, then as soon as I get going I won't see above 160°F.

And my heat isn't nearly as warm as it should be.

 

why should they you should do one

 

That seems like the correct running temp to me.

Thanks for all your input gentlemen. I'm gonna drive my truck until I have time to wrench on the balt. I WILL do my best to take pictures and document my work for everyone else having to change their thermostat.