Replacing thermostat. Help!

[blairwag]

This car is going to be the death of me.  I'm replacing the thermostat housing to head gasket. While there, I figured I might as well replace the thermostat and it's sealing ring. I have the thermostat housing taken off the car. I have all 4 bolts removed from the housing.  

Unfortunately, I can not seem to seperate the upper half of the housing from the lower half.

I've tryed pulling with all moy might, and banging on the parts with the wooden end of a hammer handle. Nothing.

What's the trick?


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William Blair Wagner: blairwag@earthlink.net
Education is not always knowing the answer,
...but rather knowing where to look for it!
1971 280SL US Automatic
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[blairwag]

Well, as you can see, I didn't get a lot of suggestions.
The housing was really stuck together. I finally got it apart by soaking the seam between the upper half and the lower half in WD-40, and then wacking the upper half while holding down the lower half with the wodden end of a hammer.

The last thermostat was installed using some kind of gasket sealant that hardens like ROCK! It's a yellowish-brown color, and it really holds fast.

Anyway, I got it apart, and have cleaned it up, with the help of LOTS of paint remover.

Tomorrow I refill the colling system (for the 3rd time), and turn the key.  Please, God, no more leaks!


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William Blair Wagner: blairwag@earthlink.net
Education is not always knowing the answer,
...but rather knowing where to look for it!
1971 280SL US Automatic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Cees Klumper]

Bill - use plain water for the first time refilling the system. That way, if the leak is still there (although the chances of that are small) you can just drain the water rather than coolant.

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[blairwag]

The reason I don't ususally use water, is because I'm afraid of pockets in the cooling system that don't drain. Then I end up with a mix of water/coolant that's not what I intended. I'm pretty anal about the coolant. I won't even mix brand names. So, I waste some coolant, but I have piece of mind.

BTW, where is the drain plug for the cooling system on the engine?  I can't seem to locate it anywhere?


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William Blair Wagner: blairwag@earthlink.net
Education is not always knowing the answer,
...but rather knowing where to look for it!
1971 280SL US Automatic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[ja17]

Hello william,
It is a 19mm bolt head on the block near the starter motor. Accessed from below in most cases.


Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio