So I've been fighting coolant leaks for the past month. Every time I fix one, another pops up. This time it looks like it's from the thermostat housing, towards the bottom. I've been doing a lot of reading on these forums and it appears that the head gasket is known for leaking there as well. I was just curious if anyone knew the chances of it being the thermostat housing vs. the head gasket. I'm not scared of either repair, just hoping to gain some insight if this is going to be a day long repair, or if I'm going to be down a couple weeks while I get the head milled, etc.

 

Quickest and easiest would be to change the T-stat gaskets....if ti still leaking then you know you most likely have a bad head gasket.

 

That was the plan tomorrow. I have a new thermostat and gasket to put on in the morning. Fingers are really crossed that it's not the head gasket, as I can't really afford to have it down a week or two for the machine shop to do their thing. Thanks for the reply.

 

I chased that leak for months. I even machined the gasket surfaces on the thermostat housing and applied RTV to the mating surfaces. It turns out I had a leak at the head gasket right behind the t-stat housing. I replaced the head gasket and that leak went away. Check out my thread on it just a couple months back. I did not have to mill the head but I did go to studs. Personally, I wouldn't reuse the old head bolts. Studs are pricey but I think worth every penny. There was a lot of good advice offered to me in that thread by good knowledgeable people.