cant seem to get my T-stat housing to seal....

[dodgethis91cmns]

this is a problem i just cant seem to figure out.my temp gauge in my truck never worked. so first place i went was the thermostat. i replaced the the other day and thought i had it but unfortunatly i didnt.1- when i removed the old thermostat it had a small rubber gasket on top of it, and then the big doughnut rubber seal that goes against the back of the t stat and through the lifting hook. the NEW t stat looks TOTALLY different then the old one, which i was told is not a big deal. but it didnt come with that first small rubber seal. i would assume that the thermostat just sits flat in the housing with no small rubber ring, and then the doughnut goes behind it???2- would anyone reccomend RTV on the lifting hook on both sides??? this is the last thing i can think of to do. 3- does anyone have a picture of the location of the coolant temp sensor on a 12 valve?? seeing as now i have to replace that becasue apparently thats the root of my problems.

[dripley]

My 24v tstat just has a rubber gasket that fits atound the tstat. No upper and lower, just one that fits over the lip of the tstat. Idont know about the 12v though.

[ISX]

The temp sensor is the very top very back (the orange thing). http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=318&d=1261361932 As for the thermostat, this might help. Seem to be all different kinds. One in mine now is for a 5.9 gasser. I used RTV on mine as well.

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=In2r9jU_k_4

[dripley]

I knew there would be some young whippersnapper, puddle jumping, motorcycling guy out there that would set me straight. Hello ISX. He is your 12v man.

[dodgethis91cmns]

ISX- in your video when did the assembly of the diesel thermostat, you put that first rubber seal in there, min didnt come with that rubber seal. so i just stuck the t stat into the housing and then followed that with the doughnut seal, big end in first, then the lifting plate. do i need that first rubber seal??

--- Update to the previous post...

ive looked all over and cant even find that first rubber ring. rock auto ( my main parts source) only offers the big doughnut that goes on the back of the t stat and through the lifting hook. im going to have to tear this thing apart tomorrow and try to get it right, i just got laid off and i need my truck running ASAP.

[ISX]

I've never seen a direct answer for this as they all seem to be different. As far as I can tell, the seal is only there to hold the thing against the recess. I think I ditched one of the seals when I put the other thermostat in. I mean all it does is open and close so as long as you have it in the right direction, it's going to work. Some have a bypass thing which is to let the thermostat see a more accurate water temp but I have used both and couldn't see much difference. As long as you put RTV between the metal to metal pieces (lifting eye) and you put the seal in in such a way that it will hold the thermostat in there (rather than it being loose in there), and have the thermostat in the right direction, I think it would work just as well. I have used a couple different ones and they all work fine.After rereading your post, it sounds like you got the older one that I had in the video. I don't see any way to get around using that small seal since it would have that big of gap in it to play in without it. I don't know if you could turn the big seal over and have it smash against the lifting plate and tstat or if it would still have a lot of play.

[pic_jon]

Have you resolved this issue yet?I bought my 97 with a thermostat gasket leak... Turns out the headgasket was leaking directly under the t-stat. It was fun. Mine did have 2 t-stat gaskets.. The doughnut and the smaller one.

[dodgethis91cmns]

I did resolve the issue. I ended up RTV'ing the lifting eye on both sides and reinstalled. I also didnt jack hammer the 3 bolts, just took em to a good snug