Well, I cracked the housing cover during reinstall, so I'm down until tomorrow when the part comes in at the Honda dealership. I was a little hesitant about the aftermarket stat I was putting in, so I went ahead and ordered a geniune Honda stat while ordering the cover. The poor fit of the o-ring in the housing led to my demise. Now I can't seem to break the ground screw loose from the broken cover; that thing is on there solid.

 

While waiting, test the old thermostat in boiling water ... if it fails to open, you will know you found the problem:

Overheating Troubleshoot for Honda's Cooling System

 

When I removed the housing it had maybe 10 ft-lbs. on it (and it wasn't leaking).

On my 94, the Haynes manual specifically said to torque the bolts to 104 lbs. I mistakenly thought it was ft-lbs but it was really in-lbs. When I was installing it I thought to myself ... "This is all old and aluminum ... how much will it take before I break or strip something?" Needless to say, I stopped at 60 ft-lbs ... Which is good because I should have stopped at 9 ft-lbs.

Tighten each bolt a little at a time until you hit your mark. The gasket gets heavily compressed and it's not flimsy to begin with.

PAhonda helped point out the error in my ways below. This message has been edited to leave my mistake but to also explain my confusion and to hopefully prevent someone else from making the same mistake.

 

Read it carefully. The OEM manual says 8.6 ft-lbs. The Haynes may have it in inch-lbs (about 96 in-lbs).

 

You are right ... the Haynes Manual says 104 in-lbs. ... which is 8.6 ft-lbs.

So, I way over-tightened it. Good thing I didn't break something. I'm such a noob. At least I stopped early. The above message has been edited slightly.

Actually, the manual as a whole jumps back-and-forth between in-lbs. and ft-lbs but they ARE clear which is which. You just have to read.

 

Ground screw? ... like for electrical? The only "wires" on the thermostat cover are the ones that go to ECT-A. That just press and unplugs. I guess put the broken cover in a vise and use a proper wrench or socket on it. Now would be a good time to "boil test" ECT-A (see links above).

Re-install ECT-A in the new cover. Use RTV Sealant and a new o-ring if you have one handy.

 

Some years have a bundle of ground wires attached at one of the bolts holding the T-stat housing together.

 

Yes, ground screw is there. It's keeping me from completely removing the damaged housing. Also, some have stated NOT to use sealant. Any other thoughts on that?

 

I wouldn't use sealant, because the thermostat comes with a gasket to seal it. Clean the surface that meets with the gasket. At most, I would use a drop of oil on the gasket to lubricate it.

If you get a leak at a gasket, then I might consider some sealant.

 

You only use sealant on ECT-A. I assumed you were going to move it over.

You DO NOT use sealant on the Thermostat cover ... it has the rubber gasket.