Changing thermostat?

Hi guys my radiator get very hot and shoots up boiling hot coolant after driving for very short amount of time, and it steams a lot, 10 minutes of driving will do this...

I checked my lower radiator hose and its still cold while the top part is hot, so I think it should be the thermostat.

I purchased the thermostat and will attempt changing it. It seems like it is located beside the alternator area?

I'm going to jack the car up and try changing it from the bottom, how hard is it to access the thermostat on the 2JZ-GTE?

cheers

The thermostat is at the end of the bottom hose

The WSM contains nearly all you need to know on maintaining your ge or gte

http://www.turbosupras.com/pages/en/pages/technical/a80tsrm.htm

I found it easier changing from the top after removing the alternator. But i suppose it depends on yourself and what tools you have

Thanks,

I was planning on getting it done today but had somethings stopping me. Seems like it would be a lot more simple with a stock engine.

I have Trust twin intake, I had to remove it. I am able to put my hand down and touch the hose, but there is not enough room to work with.

the biggest pain is there is a bunch of random wires just beside the alternator.

I jacked the car and seemed a bit tight under there as well. I'll remove the alternator and see if it gives me any clearance in room.

If its still a pain I'll just hire a mechanic to come and get it done..

is is what I'm working with:

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/7962/img0144yr.jpg

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6631/img0145kd.jpg

When you say the car "shoots up hot coolant", where does it shoot from? The rad cap?

I'm not sure if your logic is correct although the thermostat is a cheap part so is probably worth getting changed. IIRC, car thermostats prevent coolant from circulating through the radiator. When closed they confine the coolant to within or near the engine block. If my thermostat was stuck shut, I'd expect the radiator to stay cool for a while then only get moderately warm. Have you changed the rad cap and checked the cap is sealing properly against the radiator?

No i haven't changed the rad cap.

I have a mishimoto rad with the mishimoto cap.

when I started my car today after running about 15 minutes steam started leaking through the radiator cap.... but why is it getting so hot in the first place? that's why it makes me believe its the thermostat.

It could be that the rad cap seal is faulty, and doesn't hold pressure in the cooling system. Under this condition you'd expect some steam to come from it once the engine is up to temperature. If you can, I'd get hold of a replacement rad cap and see if that helps.

I filled my radiator up to the top.

It takes about 15 minutes for the engine to warm up in pretty cold weather.

I then get steam coming up from around the radiator cap. I put a towel around the rad cap and there is still some steam coming from the area, a bit bellow it I think. So at this point I'm wondering if I may possibley have a leak or crack somewhere on my radiator.

I filled my radiator up to the top.

 

It takes about 15 minutes for the engine to warm up in pretty cold weather.

 

I then get steam coming up from around the radiator cap. I put a towel around the rad cap and there is still some steam coming from the area, a bit bellow it I think. So at this point I'm wondering if I may possibley have a leak or crack somewhere on my radiator.

The bit in bold is indicative of a knackered rad cap. A towel wrapped round it won't help, not even close.

It is possible that there may be a crack in the rad near the rad cap; to investigate this I'd thoroughly dry the area with a towel, run the engine to temperature and look for where the steam is coming from, and look where the rad is getting wet from the steam. Hopefully that would reveal something. Or, get a garage to do a pressure test on the cooling system: that would find the leak.

If it were me, unless I can see a crack in the radiator, I'd change the rad cap and try it again.