BEWARE of chrome Thermostate housings
 

Here are some picturs of a year old chrome thermostate housing it sprung a pin hole leak on Saturday and when I took it off the neck that the hose was clamped too was so thin my thumb made a hole in it .
Don't know what caused it ?

Bill:confused:

Another shot of the neck.

And the inside

Wow..huge bummer, they will also cause corrosion on the alluminum intake. THe anti-freeze turns to battery acid frim the dis-simalar metals.
Chainge your coolant EVEY year.

Andy; What blew me away I've changed the coolant several time when I was experimenting with different Degree Thermostats.

I went back to a stock housing ,not taking any chances.

Bill:flag:

I've heard of this hapening, and I have no idea what did it if you have flushed your system.
I know I check mine every 6 months or so when i chainge from coolant to water or vise-versa.
So far, so good.

Anti-freeze for the most part will turn acidic over time, if your using the green stuff, change it every year. As far as the
chrome pieces go, most makers sacrafic quality for the shiny
look...knowing it will fail...thermostat housings, chrome pulleys...
etc, all fall into this catagory. What ever you decide to use, try
to select a metal that is the same as the intake, ie, if you run
an aluminum intake, get an aluminum t-stat housing. If you
have a stock cast iron, go scoutin the junk yards for an iron
t-stat housing, (most of them if even remotely protected from the
weather will still be usable) Good LUck.

I say beware of any chrome!! I am ainti chrome! I guess a air cleaner is ok, but that's about it.

Sucks to hear about that, i have one now and it seems to be ok,its the kind with the o-ring ,no gasket. PS nice camera :D

Super chevy ; sounds like the same one I had .


Bill:flag:

:bowtie: IF YOUR WATER IS THE LEAST BIT ACIDIC OR HAS A HIGH MINERAL OR SULFER COUNT, ALWAYS USE DISTILLED WATER TO MIX WITH ANTI-FREEZE FOR YOUR COOLING SYSTEM. IT'S CHEAP & MAKES THAT GREEN STUFF (ANTI-FREEZE) LAST ALOT LONGER. IF YOU HAVE A DEHUMIDIFIRE IN YOUR HOUSE, ALL THE WATER THAT COMES OUT OF IT IS DISTILLED (OSMOSES??)

I bought one of those once and when I went to put it on the bolt holes were off by about a half an inch:mad: :mad:

I guess a air cleaner is ok, but that's about it.
 

I dont even think the air cleaner should be chrome.......go adhead and spend the extra few bucks and get aluminum......Everything should be aluminum or stainless. Unless you are just building a old beater.........My bolts are even polished stainless with logo engravings.http://members.aol.com/mattman666/cheers.gif

i had one of those chrome therm housings. damn thing corroded on me too. not maiking that mistake twice

that's bizarre...
i've been running a chrome one for a couple years with no problem, i'm using that orange long life prestone...

ive heard of this happening to a bunch of diffrent people who run chrome thermo housings......... this looks like a good topic for the review board...... so im moving it there

Go Billet.............JB

Well, my chrome one (with O-ring) has been in use since '98 when i bought the first Longhorn...no tellin how long it was on that truck before I got it. So far so good, and I really like the O-ring too.
On the one that the holes did not line up on, it was probably a pontiac one, thy look the same, but the holes don't quite match up. Pontiac and caddy have the same hole spacing too just in case any one was losing sleep with that question.

Same thing happened to me. Except my pin hole was located on the round part directly above the thermostat. I threw it out and bought a cast iron one from NAPA. Those things are junk, not worth risking your engine over.

no problems here
 

I have had one with a temp sender hole on top for oh 10 years or so and no problems. Used to be my daily driver not as much now. Just pulled the engine and took that off still looks good?

The chrome ones corrode, and the pot metal stock ones warp.

I finally went to Napa and got a cast iron one. Haven't had problems since, but the key is a good gasket and flat clean surfaces. Fel-Pro #35562T. It's a reusable gasket, and you don't use tack or gasket sealer to put it in. Just shove it in and tighen it down. Done.

If you can buy the part at O'Rielly's or Autozone in the "Dress Up" area, don't buy it. (Hell if it is from Autozone, don't buy it no matter what it is.) I've had problems with them not leaking, but when I go to flush the system and I change the hose, the damn neck on it will break off. I went back to the cast iron one.

Count me in too.I used one before and it was crap.I think more
than type of coolant, is country of orgin of those damn chrome
pieces.I went to Napa to get a cast one with the little carb return
spring hole cast into it.Guess where it come from? Yeah,china too.
But yeah keep your green coolant fresh.I have heard too many
negative stories about the orange GM death-cool on a 90's
Suburban forum.I also flushed that stuff out and replaced it
with green coolant on my 98 Suburban.

What does it do to the aluminum intakes? Are the only thermo housings that corrode are made of Steel, metal, what? Yeah, what about billet specialties billet ones? Would they corrode? Are there any complaints about these? Nice bolts too, Themattman, where did you get hooked up with those, i've seen em before, did you get a whole set for your motor?
Brandon

I had a problem with chromed heater hose fittings the only ones i could find were chrome cost 11.99!!! got them home and one was steel and one not a few months it split all down one side found one for 2.99 and it works great.


:gmc: