2007~2015 Thermostat replacement

[kornholio]

Good Evening everyone.

I was thinking about replacing the thermostat on my gen 1 cx-9 2007. I ran an estimate through repair pal and it listed the replacement at 708 to 731 dollars. Is the thermostat replacement that expensive? how much is the thermostat and is there anything else that needs to be replaced that makes this estimate that high? all input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[jal142]

The thermostat part # from Mazda is ZZJ1-15-171A and is about $15. There's also a seal that is another $5. So, for $20 you can buy all the parts, but you will also need FL-22 coolant, which isn't cheap.

If you search for "Ford Edge thermostat replacement" there are videos on YouTube that show exactly how to do it. There's no way it is at $700 job. You do need to remove the air intake and air box but that's a 10 minute job. The thermostat housing is under the intake tube on the right side of the engine. You need to remove a couple bolts and the thermostat comes out.

All in, I'd guess this is a couple hour job, and most of that is screwing around with draining and refilling the cooling system.

 

[PTguy]

Korn, does the engine warm up from cold in the time you expect it to? Does it maintain its normal temperature on the hottest day? If so, the thermostat is still working fine.

Think of the cooling system laid out like an infinity symbol...an eight figure on its side. The thermostat is in the middle at the crossing point. One side of the symbol is the engine, and the other side is the radiator. The cold engine runs and circulates its coolant inside just the engine until the temperature of the coolant warms enough to activate the thermostat. It opens just a bit and lets some hot fluid go the the radiator and some cold fluid return from the radiator. As the engine warms more the thermostat opens more and lets more flow go through the radiator for cooling. If the thermostat gets mechanically worn it may not close fully, thus slowing engine warm up. Or it may not open fully and let the engine overheat.

 

[kornholio]

The engine operating temperature shows 202 degrees on my scan tool. That is why i want to replace it. In the ford edge video that i was referred to here. After the owner replaced his thermostat his operating temp was 190 degrees, which is 10 degrees above the rating of the 180 degree thermostat. The car has 125k miles already and is 13 years old. Do you think that 202 is normal operating temp for this car.

 

[Eddie79]

The engine operating temperature shows 202 degrees on my scan tool. That is why i want to replace it. In the ford edge video that i was referred to here. After the owner replaced his thermostat his operating temp was 190 degrees, which is 10 degrees above the rating of the 180 degree thermostat. The car has 125k miles already and is 13 years old. Do you think that 202 is normal operating temp for this car.

Let the car sit and idle outside and listen if the fans kick on, or if it's not overheating it's fine.

 

[jal142]

190-200 seems to be normal for the Ford/Mazda V6. You are on the high side but not way out of line. It could just be that your radiator is old and not quite as efficient as it was when new.