Replacing that $@!%&*) THERMOSTAT Many a home-mechanic have admitted defeat and towed their car into the dealership with their tails between their legs.. or they've checked into insane-asylums... TOOLS & PARTS NEEDED angled-tip needle-nose pliers, short 1/2" nose replacement thermostat with new seal-ring and washer, stoc k-temp BACKGROUND BTW - I don't recommend lower-temp thermostat for several reasons. First it will prolong warm-up times, which will increase wear on the engine as you'll be spending more time with the parts not meshing properly. Second, the engine is designed to operate at an optimum temperature of about 220-230 degrees-F. This is to ensure that the oil burns off any condensated water in that's accumulated in the crankcase from combustion. Third, lowering coolant-temps will suck more heat away from the combustion chambers, and lower power. Most people think that if their car is operating hotter than normal, a lower-temp thermostat will fix it, however this an opposite compensation that masks the real issue: cooling system not bled properly and air-bubbles are restricting flow worn-out and leaky water-pump non-operational fans bad radiator thermoswitch, may not turn on one or both fans or not at full speed internally clogged radiator or one with excessive air-flow restriction from debris or damaged fins bad engine-grounds, leading to high-gauge readings defective and clogged thermostat Each one of these problems have their own troubleshooting step and fixes, but a lower-temp thermostat is not the solution. That's because both the stock 180-F and lower-temp aftermarket unit will be fully OPEN well before the engine reaches full operating temperature. If your engine is runnng hot at 240-F, having a thermostat be fully OPEN at 180-F or at 160-F is not going to make a difference, they BOTH fully open when the engine is overheating anway; it's not a cause of the overheating. Fix the real problem that's causing high engine-temps, it really comes down to BTUs per second that's being shed by the radiator and that has to balance out how many BTUs per second the engine is generating. The only time a thermostat is the culprit in high coolant temps, it's when gone bad and is sticking. It's the failure of the thermostat that causes the higher engine-temps, not that its temperating-rating is too high. Replacing it with the stock unit will restore your car back to proper operation. On an aside note, recent innovations and research in engines have focused on ceramic coatings and materials to keep as much heat in the combustion chambers as possible to extract the last bits of power out of the expanding gases. Cooling them down with low coolant-temps just robs the expanding mixture of is power. REMOVAL PROCEDURE Drain the coolant by unscrewing the plastic plug in the bottom corner of the radiator. Unscrew the bleed screw on top of hte engine as well to let all the water drain from the engine and hoses. Remove big radiator hose to expose the thermostat. Here's a picture of the dastardly lockring from below; say a prayer before confronting the ENEMY! and a picture of "THE TOOL". I use a small 6" short-tip needle-nose pliers with 45-degree angle. DO NOT try to grab both ends of the lockring and squeeze, no way you can do that. You'll need forarms like Popeye to be able to squeeze both ends together so that they meet. And then you only have 0.5mm of clearance all around, so you'll have to pull off the entire circumference of the lockring from the groove AND center it perfectly in the housing in order to pull it out... not gonna happen... if you can do it, you can also solve eliminate world-hunger and achieve World Peace. good luck... The picture below is just for illustration purposes, I actually pry the other end out first. The fastest way I've found is to actually grab just one end and you don't even grab it, just insert one tip into the hole in the end of the lock-ring, I just put the pliers on the upper end for that picture, here's where I really used it: Notice that I only put one tip of the pliers in and I only lightly grip it, no need to try and grab it completely. It's the clockwise rocking motion of rocking the 45-degree bend against the outer housing of the water-pump that pushes the tip inwards and pries the lockring off the groove (red arrow). The rotation of the plier's tip actually angles the tip so that the lockring slides down the tip and you can pull it out a bit: Once you get it off a tiny bit, then it's time to actually grab it with both tips of the pliers. You want to pull the end of the lockring in a direction that's 90-degrees to the point where it's still stuck in the groove, so the initial motion is directly inwards (red): Then was you peel off the lockring around, you adjust the motion of the tip to keep that part that's still in the groove moving at 90-degrees away from the wall of the water-pump. About 30-40% of the way around, you can no longer pull on the end of the lockring and have the remaining part move off the groove. That's when you grab the lockring tight and pull it outwards (purple) and the remaining part should come out easily.... OR, if you're feeling lucky, you can hook the other end of the lockring and work from the other side. But you run the risk of pushing the free end back in. INSTALLATION PROCEDURE Wrap new seal around new thermostat and insert it IN THE PROPER DIRECTION into the water-pump . Slide in the spacer-washer next and push the entire asesembly all the way back to expose the groove. NOW you can squeeze the ends of the lock together, remember to eat yoru spinach beforehand. Keeing the lockring as centered as you can, slide it down the hole and release into the groove. Most likely, you'll slip and release it prematurely. Starting with the end that's the furthest in, push with the tip of the pliers and work your way around. Or you can hook the tip of the pliers into one end, pry it away from the edge and push inwards. Re-install the radiator-plug and radiator hose. Fill the coolant tank and start the car. Warm it up with the bleed screw open and the coolant-tank cap. As the pump sends water around, fill up the coolant tank. When the engine gets up to full operating temperaure and coolant starts to steam out the bleed-screw, tighten it up. Fill up the coolant tank, install the cap and you're done! Took me longer to take these pictures than to actually do the job... heh, heh... GOOD LUCK !