I don’t know why I am getting so tired of winter this year. It is only the first week of March. But I am really getting tired of the cold. It is 10 degrees out right now. 30 degrees less than “normal”. Ok, fine, this is Minnesota… there really is no “normal”, but still…

So for now… I will stare at this.

My neighbor drives truck, but he’s been a car mechanic in the past and does a lot of work on his cars and for friends. My thermostat broke, so I’ve had no heat in the Jeep for the last week. Tom offered to fix it as I’ve helped him when he’s needed a second pair of hands, and actually swapped out his home tstat for a new programmable one on Saturday.

So I pick the stat and gasket up yesterday, and yesterday evening we start working on it. And by we, I mean I was pretty much just watching. This is probably something I could have done if I had known where it was to begin with, but he’s even got the pressure tester and the whole deal.

First attempt, the stat shifted (we figured out later) so it wasn’t seated right and cut the gasket and leaked. We rush out (it’s 6:30 on a Sunday) and the first two parts places are closed - the third, Auto Zone, is open till 7, we got there at 5 till.

I pick up a new gasket, and since the hoses are all factory, figure we’ll replace the upper radiator hose while we’re at it. We get back, everything is going fine… but there’s a… snap… as he’s tightening one of the bolts. Well, long story short, we hook everything up and get no pressure… add fluid… pump it up… and the housing (I have no idea the real name of it) for the stat where the hoses plug in has turned in to a mini-fountain.

So… I’m stuck at home today (oh darn). Tom is gonna try and find a replacement part today. And hopefully we’ll get it fixed tonight. The pressure test showed there may be a bit of leaking around the top of the radiator too. That one isn’t critical I suppose, but will have to add it to the list. Feh.