The odometer just keeps on rolling on my 1997 Accord, and it hasn't shown any signs of stopping any time soon. The 250,000 miles that it has lasted have been a little rougher than usual over the past few months, with small repairs popping up here and there. The latest of these repairs just happened last week when the thermostat froze shut. My Accord's 2.2-liter engine is pretty simple to work on.
To start things off, I started my Accord's engine and turned the heater's temperature control all the way to warm, then I turned off the engine. I then opened the hood and let the vehicle set until the engine was cool to the touch. The drain cock on my car's radiator was near the center of the radiator. Prior to installing the thermostat, I installed the new gasket by slipping it around the circumference of the thermostat. When I installed the thermostat housing, I tightened the bolts to 11 foot-pounds.
Before refilling the engine, I opened the bleeder valve on the top of the thermostat housing, by turning it a half-turn counterclockwise. I then filled the coolant reservoir to the "Full" mark with 50-50 premixed ethylene-glycol -- standard green -- coolant, then I added coolant to the radiator until it started flowing from the coolant valve. At that point, I closed the bleeder valve and filled the radiator to the base of its filler neck. Then, I started the engine and let it idle until the fans turned off and on twice. During that time, I topped off the coolant about three times, because the level dropped slightly as the coolant circulated through the engine. Once the level remained steady, I tightened the radiator cap and turned the engine off.
