Yo Jimbo, I like how you show your mistakes. That is admirable in my book, because it shows others what to look out for when taking on a complex job they haven't done before. Congrats on another homerun hit. Also, your able to jam pack tons of good info into only a 10 minute video. I have a feeling, on another channel this would be a 20 minute or more video. -Chuck
I've done this exact job a few times now. Next time, remove the battery and battery tray. Tons of room that way, and plenty of room to use ugga dugga power for the 2 top bolts of the alternator, and leave the idler pulley alone. This method reduces frustration and time big time.
Actually, draining the coolant by removing the hose like Jim did is better/safer than using the peacock anyway. The peacocks are usually just real cheapo plastic that gets brittle. You remove the peacock and it falls apart when you take it out and then what? A lot of mechanics use the hose over the peacock for that reason.
I just did this last week ...it was a fairly simple job .removing the alternator isn't necessary if you go through the wheel well...give that a try next time.
🔥 Another good video Jimmy. But did you know you can actually remove/replace the thermostat through the driver side wheel well, without having to remove the alternator and bracket. You do have to use about 4 feet of socket extensions 🤣 I've changed my thermostat twice on my '04 Envoy (301k miles). Good to see ya back by the way 👍
What a terrible design! No way to do this without making a slobbing mess. Don't be overly picky about coolant. The color indicates that it has had a universal coolant in it and has mixed. You took it back to the crappy seal busting plastic swelling gasket eating orange death dexcool on a 15 year old vehicle? uhhh ok.......
lol He's a major coke head you can clearly see his cheeks all sunken in and the size if his pupils and how energetic he is. He was probably on a major coke or meth binge.
nice video. i had a similar problem with my 04 trailblazer. when we bought it it kept throwing a check engine light. it was cooling too efficiently. someone replaced dex cool for old green antifreeze. i changed to dex cool and never had the light come on again but the temp runs a few degrees hotter with the dex cool. it still runs good
I drive a 06 Hummer. And mine was running hot so I thought. Only to find out it wasn't. But the temp gauge was saying otherwise. I changed the antifreeze and put dex 50/50. And new water pump. Now back to needle being in the middle. 😳. So I'm assuming the color was right. But they put 100% dex in. Instead of 50/50. I probably should've changed thermostat as well. But no longer have issues feeling like I'm running hot. Gm couldn't figure out why. But I fixed my own issue just by changing the liquid lol
Not sure it's truly flushed if the block wasn't drained, too. Likely the two fluids are mixed now since there was probably still some pink in there. Whether that's a big deal or not........?
For the bolt under the alternator I was able to get mine off with a standard 15mm socket, a swivel adapter, a 3” extension, and a 3/8” socket driver 3:19
that's about what I had to do to get the front driver door handle off! A 1/4 to 3/8 connection to swivel via a 10 mm extension. That 10 mm nut was way unreachable behind the frame inside the door.
I like your video thanks! I bought a 04 trailblazer for my daughter's 1st vehicle. She noticed it's not getting warm air thru the vents/defrost. I've checked all actuators, heater coil etc. BUT I noticed once I pulled the radiator cap, the fluid was green and not orange as it calls for. The temp gauge was only holding about 120. I believe the thermostat is stuck open so I'm gonna have to replace thermostat and flush the system. Then refill with correct antifreeze. Your video was very helpful. Thanks again!!
This is my issue right now, just bought an 04 Trailblazer, and the system is full of green, I was replacing the reservoir and I was like no, another job. The air is definitely not as cool as it should be, figured I have to replace the thermostat too or atleast it makes the most sense to just knock it out anyway. Any other suggestions for easier ways, things to watch out for, or things to just replace while going through this. Any help is greatly appreciated.
I've pulled many a lower radiator hose to drain the coolant and have yet to be able to do it neatly. And I'd like to strangle the guy who invented those spring clamps, I always replace them with good Stainless Screw clamps on my vehicles. I have found when working on other peoples cars that you need to make sure you put those spring clamps back exactly the way they were unless you are installing new hose to help ensure no leaks. Hoses get harder with age, if you don't get those spring clamps back right there's a good chance they will leak. There is a tool made especially for them, guess I should have bought one 30 years ago. Factory always seems to position those in the worst position to get channel locks on them. I have started using the Prestone yellow antifreeze in my 03 Chevy pickup, it's compatible with all other antifreeze so I don't have to worry so much about getting all the old out or what I top it of with out on the road. I by the concentrate, mix it 50% in a spare gallon jug in the garage, then put it in radiator to assure I have the right mix.
Same here, replace with screw clamps. In my opinion, if the Hose comes off and it's older than 2 years it is going to be replaces, they are cheap and I am not taking chances.
I suggest getting a radiator funnel (one that can hold the liquid and you can burp the air out while running the car and don't forget to run the heater too). One of the best investments I've made. EPAuto fill funnel on Amazon.
The pink coolant was replaced it is a OAT type base antifreeze. Personally you can add any type of antifreeze once you flush the whole system. I honestly wouldn’t of added Dexcool back in it too many horror stories from that stuff eating gaskets.
We have a 2006 Envoy owned since being new and everything on the vehicle is a challenge to work on even the oil filter is a pain to change ! Recently I replaced the radiator , fan clutch , tensioner pulley , idler pulley , thermostat and dexcool . What a pain but my $600.00 parts would have easily been a $2000.00 shop bill !
just the OEM fan clutch is at least $1000 at the dealer - and they didn't even do a PCM upgrade on the air conditioner - so it STILL blows hot air after a few minutes of cool AC.
That has been my plan to save time by not waiting for T-stat to open. Get more out, too as new T-stat will close before you can drain as much as possible.
Some types of antifreeze do not play well together, even in small amounts. I flushed my system out using tap water by draining the radiator, which held what I thought was an incredibly small amount of fluid, ran it, drained it, filled it and repeated until the water came out clear. Then I flushed it several more times with distilled water. Drained it, took a hose off the heater core, put my thumb over the end of the hose, blew into the radiator to get as much water out of the heater core as possible. Then I bought a gallon of the recommended antifreeze, full strength, mixed half with distilled water in a separate jug to make a 50-50 mix, poured a half gallon of straight antifreeze into the radiator to mix with any water left in the system and then topped it off with the 50-50 mix. Tested it a week later and it is good to 20 below.
The only time you take a vehicle back to a dealer is for RECALLS only where they are picking up the tab. If you can't attempt this procedure then take it to a local garage, NEVER the dealer.
50 years ago, my Uncle worked in an assembly plant for GM. Even back then he said, IF the engineers who design these cars had to work on them themselves, they'd redesign the entire car from, bumper to bumper; when, cars were MUCH LESS complicated to work on!
I just did a thermostat turn your wheels to the left, grab 3 ft of extensions and unscrew the bottom, to replace put grease in your 10mm socket to hold the bolt in place and 🎉
Since you had the battery unhooked anyway, go ahead and take it out. That will give you a lot more room on the side to get a socket and extensions in there to get to the bolts.
Traditionally you always test a thermostat before you install it in on the car since they can be a real pain to install. I wounder how you test that design before you install it? In the past you took a hot plate a container of water and a thermometer. Brought the water up to the temp listed on the thermostat and submerged it. If it opened you took it out and installed the car. If it did not you got another thermostat and started over.
Hope you can answer my question I'm in the process of doing this rn on the coolant of dexcool did you mix it with distilled water ? Or did just pour it in straight no 50/50 dexcool coolant if that made since I need an answer asap please need my truck running also I dont thi k I needed a thermostat change i or coolant change but the coolant got dirty and i bought DeX cool I think the problem I have is the coolant temperature sensor but I can't find it there said it was near the thermostat but mine isn't so I took off my radiator and thermostat off for nothing looming for the sensor if you can please help and hit me with a reply back thanks a ton just subscribe great video
Have 03 Trailblazer. My coolant was just below the ''neck'''not sure if that is too low. Also, it was a really rusty color, some said that could be bad considering i have a cylindar 4 misfire. It is an orange color, so it might be ok. Anybody know more about this?
I have a 2005 Envoy, I might have to do the same soon! I did the alternator 2 years ago, and yes what a pain in the tight place. lol 😂🤣Thanks for a great step by step video, new subscriber!
I'm not only but my last comment that I highly recommend if the car is a pain in the butt to change the thermostat why not buy a water pump at the same time they tell you to change your water pump every 100 and 40,000 miles but I recommend about a hundred miles the reason why the water pump have too many plastic parts on the inside and they're not as built as good as they used to be with aluminum or almost steel parts in them to prevent them from falling apart that's another reason why I highly recommend if you change your thermostat for the first time go ahead and change the water pump in the same process so you don't have to tear it apart and do it all over again and have a bad headache
As experience working on older cars to the mid cars today I will agree it is harder to work on them because of the way they change them around and make it hard for you to work on your cars at home I agree with that
Very good video! I remember those days of finding that there were a half dozen other items to remove to get to the one needing to be placed! Now I need to see what it takes to do my 2011 Ford Fusion hybrid coolant and thermostat.
This is why mechanics hate engineers. Mechanics have practical knowledge, engineers have theoretical knowledge. Theoretical knowledge is useless in the actual physical world and so are engineers. The only good engineers are those that are self thought by actually doing physical work. They understand the KISS principle.
@@ideled I served it at a party and got rave reviews on it's sweet tangy taste but now they are all dead. Don't worry, they weren't close friends, they were democrats!
@@REVNUMANEWBERN I would right in front of a Sierra Club member or a "Karen" just to watch their head explode but thank G-d I don't live in that 3rd world $h%T hole of a state!
I am in the process of this on my 06 trailblazer 4.2 and I drained the coolant because Q#1 i am replacing my thermostat but the thermostat i got from auto zone didnt have the air hole ,does it have to have the air hole .?...Q#2 I got out 2 gallons of coolant from the drain, bought dex cool concentrate becasue the coolant I took out was redish, is that redish coolant dex cool ???.. do i have to mix the concentrate with distilled water ? Q#3 the left over redish coolant that is still in the engine or wherever can that stay in the engine of do I have to flush it out ?? I have 2 gallons of dexcool concentrate coolant to play need asap thanks guys
The reddish coolant you encountered means that someone did you favor and flushed out the Dex Cool that the Trailblazer originally came with and replaced it with HOAT coolant instead which is more of a pinkish-red color. Dex Cool is Orange and turns brown as it ages. Anyhow, since you are uncertain about what type of coolant it had, you should most definitely do a complete cooling system flush (including heater core) and consider sticking with the red HOAT coolant that was in there rather than reverting back to Dex Cool. If you do want to consider switching back to Dex Cool then l highly advise you look in to the Dex Cool issues before committing to that. As far as the thermostat goes, l would highly recommend that you stick with the OEM part rather than going with an auto supply store miscellaneous brand as this is one of those parts that you don't want to play a gamble with and continuously have to replace because of the labor involved. In some cases you can find out who the OEM part is actually made by and purchase it direct from the part manufacturer so that you don't have to pay the dealership mark-up. lt's scary to think that an aftermarket parts manufacturer would fail to include a weep hole in their version of a water pump, but I would not install an aftermarket water pump that excluded a weep hole on any of my vehicles since the function of a weep hole is important. The weep hole is intended to allow extra lubricant from the pump bearings to drip out of the water pump housing. Without this hole, the oil would be forced past the water pump seal and get into the engine coolant. The hole also allows coolant to escape the pump housing instead of being forced past the oil seals to contaminate the bearings. The way you can tell if a seal if about to fail is by checking the weep hole to see what is coming out If oil comes out of the weep hole, it means you have a blown or failing oil seal. If, instead, water or anti-freeze leaks out of the weep hole, then you have a leaking internal water pump seal in the case.
I actually heard from a couple of experienced mechanics that dex cool itself was designed to eat up the gaskets and stuff overtime. I my self know a thing or two about working on cars. First I was in disbelief that this dex cool theory was true. But then one day, I had to do a head gasket job on my Pontiac mini van. At this point, I never done this before, but I had the tools and repair manual already, so I said bump it, let me give it a try. So because it was my first time actually doing a head gasket job, I started looking at videos on how to torque the head bolts down probably. After watching several videos on this subject, including different makes and models of engines, I realized that the GM 3400 motor head job that I was doing had the lowest torque specs out of all the other model vehicles that I then seen. I was working on a 99 model montana, the manual stated that the torque spec was 37 foot pounds of torque. And then a couple years later it was revised to 44 foot pounds of torque. But most of the other manufactures from Honda to ford had almost double to triple that number. Now we are talking about head bolts here, and gm recommended these lite ass torque specs?. But at the same time, those same engines were notorious for intake manifold gaskets and head gasket problems. The moral of this story is, just know that most of the issues with your car were done by design. So don't always assume the factory recommendation is the best choice 😉. ...here is a little proof that the anti freeze color is not important as one might make it seem. If the color was so important, then why can all cars just use water in the summertime? I'm not saying to use water, because water eventually evaporates, and freezes in the cold, and is no protection against rust. I'm just helping one see that if the green antifreeze been working good for decades with no issue, and then when the orange antifreeze came, it came at a time where Gm model cars all of a sudden became notorious for head gasket issues. It's more to it of course, but that's enough for now to raise an eye brow 🤔💭
@@rolisaenz ... whatever color you use, just don't mix them together, unless it's the universal kind, that can mix with all colors. If you use green, try to flush out the orange antifreeze first ( that's if it's in there already). They say the chemicals in the old green versus the chemicals in the orange tend to create It's own type of problem. But the universal antifreeze is made to fit with all colors. Use the universal antifreeze if you're just trying to add antifreeze to top off the current antifreeze that's in the car already.
@@johndough4338 Thanks Pal, hey im looking at rockauto , im getting the radiator and upper and lower hoses plus the thermostat, but i dont see the clamps for the upper and lower hoses ? any ideas where to get those ?
@@rolisaenz ... I'm sure any auto parts place like Auto zone, O'Reilly's, pep boy's etc. will have them. Those claps come in different sizes, you might have to get the one that utilizes a screw driver to adjust to it's tightest snub on the hose. You just have to get the one that's physical in comparison with the sizes of the hoses. But I'm sure the guys at the auto parts place will point you in the right direction. Just let them know you're looking for the clamps for the top & bottom radiator hoses.
I would have changed the Temperature sensor while you had it apart. It's right next to the thermostat and often causes the "Coolant below operating temperature" code associated with the thermostat.
After 2006 the temp sensor was moved to the other side of the engine at the rear. I was planning on changing both at the same time til I found out they weren't near each other.
You can access the hose and thermostat housing through the fender well. Drain cock for the radiator is on the passenger side very bottom of the radiator.
This is why you don't want a GM midsize rear drive SUV or pickup. GM fullsize trucks are a dream to work on but the midsize Gen 1 and Gen 2 are not much.
One other thing to add to my comment if you decide to change your thermostat in a vehicle from 1998 to 2017 I would also recommend not only changing your thermostat every year but flushing your radiator out every other year to prevent overheating issues
it's called Dex kill for a reason , someone did you a favor , should have kept the pink stuff. Literally all my GM vehicles have had gasket problems from Dex Kill. All my thermostats are gummed up or corroded, it eats intake gaskets also!
of course it's a pain in the neck thats because its made my GM. I can change the thermostat on my sequoia in 5 minutes without removing anything even though i haven't had to because toyota is so reliable even with 300,000 miles. still a fan of the channel though lol.
my 4runner has the thermostat right in the front, sitting in front of the serpentine belt. Maaayybe a 10 minutes job................. @6:09 he said it's been a few days............. and you have to take apart half of the front of the SUV AND there's no easy way to drain the radiator? why in the f*** do people buy GMC again? So many slaps in the face.
I've done this before a couple times but curiosity led me to this video and a few others like it. Why on Earth anyone would change this hard to get to thermostat and not change that lower radiator hose at the same time (and replace those clamps that aren't supposed to be reused) is beyond me. But everybody with a video on RU-vid reuses the same hose and clamps. Also, running the heater fan on high just makes it take longer to warm up since all you're doing is blowing outside air across the heater core causing the coolant to lose heat to the interior of the vehicle. It's ridiculously easy to change that thermostat if you just take the wheel off and go through the wheel well.