I'm planning to do some maintenance on my gf's car and would like to drain/fill the coolant on her 2000 3.2TL (non-type s) with almost 75k miles on it. This will be the second time (first time was done by dealer at around 30k). What I would like to know is if I should replace the thermostat and the upper/lower radiator hoses at the same time. I've looked around the forum here and haven't really heard of any issues of people needing to replace their thermostat and hoses so I'd like to just get a general idea from you guys. The hoses look fine and still feel good and I have not had any problems with the car overheating or problems with the thermostat. Also, do the stock radiators in our car last for quite a while? Because I've had experiences with two of my Acura Integra's radiators taking a crap around 80k and the plastic exterior of the radiator is already turning yellowish-brown.

If the thermostat is easy to get to, I might just go ahead and change it. Is it located with the upper or lower radiator hose? But it seems like the hoses are in pretty tight spaces so that's why I'm not sure if I should just leave them alone (the lower hose seems to require the radiator to be taken out in order to remove it). Please give me any comments or suggestions. Thanks.

 

No clue on location...but 100K is a good time to do the t-stat. As for hoses, if they're fine, leave them until you replace the radiator.

Motorcraft Premium Gold Coolant would be my recommendation...

 

i had 210,000 on my 88 Legend and never replaced hoses or thermostat....I would leave it alone....

 

Just change the coolant only and I recommende the Honda coolant .My 02 TL-P
with 73k miles has rough and frequently unstable idling ... and now it idles smooth
after the coolant drain/refill.

 

The t-stat is located right underneath the throttle body.

 

I only have 91,000 on my other car, a 96 Saturn, and the t-stat has been bad for quite some time now...

 

Never heard of it...

Did you do any other maintenance, such as changing the plugs or cleaning the throttle body in addition to doing a coolant drain/fill?

 

Okay I probably will just perform the drain/fill, maybe twice, so that I can really flush it out of the engine block and heater core. I do not know how to properly flush out all the coolant (with adapters and garden hose and such) so I'm going to do it like how I change the atf by first, draining/filling and then driving it around for 15-20 minutes then drain/fill again.

I searched around and some people were talking about how the coolant needs to be bled after the radiator has been filled up. I know how to bleed the air out by squeezing the upper radiator hose with the radiator cap off and the car idling but I read some posts regarding a bleeder valve? Do the 2nd gen TL's have a bleeder valve? I think I was reading a thread regarding a 1st gen TL. Any how, if we do have a bleeder valve, what is the proper procedure for this step? Thanks so much for all the replies.

 

Michael : No never change the spark plugs or cleaning throttle body yet ....laterly having
rough idling and drain/refill the coolant smooth out the idling .

 

You do not need to bleed the air out of the system ...just refill the radiator to the top then let the car run for 5 min and top again the radiotor until the level stay intact .... And remember to remove the reservoir clean it and refill it with fresh coolant ...
All steps are in the owner manual .