John/Horace Posted May 16, 2021 Report Share Posted May 16, 2021 Steady drip on daughter in laws 2012 Journey with the 2.4 engine, 115k kms on car. It has the orange long life glycol, decided to just replace it all at the same time, still appears pretty clean but it is close to the ten year mark. Drip is on the side of the cylinder head right where one of the thermostats is mounted. Purchased the whole assembly with new thermostats, large o ring for rear inlet pipe included, made by Gates. It didn’t have the temp sensor o ring, but I have an o ring assortment set that had the correct replacement. The cooling manifold is held to the intake head by three 13 mm bolts, torque spec is 89in pounds. Installed new parts and seemed ok for one day then a drip came back. This time it was the square return gasket beside thermostat, it was new and installed on the Gates replacement assembly. Checked bolt torque and it was very close, decided to remove and inspect all gaskets. The new assembly when being installed didn’t dry fit in place as easily as the used original part, doesn’t sit flush to head with 20 pounds hand pressure. Moved all gaskets over to the old original plastic assembly and reinstalled it. No leak now for several days now. Not a difficult repair, just messy with glycol. Never had an issue with Gates replacement parts before, it seems cheaper made than the factory part. Metal grommets instead of copper, thinner flanges on secondary thermostat housing, stud mounts flimsy. Summer Solstice 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
probak118 Posted May 17, 2021 Report Share Posted May 17, 2021 I guess what your saying to us is for the 2.4 thermostat housing best to buy the OEM replacement in your opinion. i replaced my 3.6 with a NAPA supplied housing, luckily no leaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John/Horace Posted May 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2021 I’m using the used oem unit with new gaskets and thermostats from the Gates unit. The oem unit isn’t sold as a complete unit, you buy each gasket and o ring and thermostat individiualy and the housing separately, ends up being 4-5 times the price of after market. It takes an hour-ish to change the housing, a drip won’t strand you, people can decide for themselves I guess. Just general info for the site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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