bureau13

Well, I suspect I know the source of my car running hot. There was almost no trace left of the rubber on that seal behind the thermostat. The bad news...when I popped the metal remains off, it vanished down the rabbit hole next to/in front of it *&^^! And I was just reading a thread where that happened to someone, although fortunately they were able to fish it out. I have not been so lucky so far. Now why, why, WHY would I not have stuffed something in that hole?! WTF is wrong with me?!

bureau13

So I've determined that it really is the bitching (or maybe the admission of doing something stupid) that cures all. I fished around in there with various tools, including my extendable magnet, to no avail. One post on Rennlist, went back out and had it out in five minutes. Whew!

Avar928

Anything that falls down that hole goes straight to the water pump cavity so if fishing it out doesn't help you'll have to remove the water pump to extract it.

bureau13

Yeah, I figured at a minimum I'd be removing the thermostat housing, but luck was with me.