DIY: 2009 Patriot Tstats and Heater Hoses Reversed Mod
- This is a friend’s car 2009 Jeep Patriot with 60K miles. I am posting the instructions in case you guys need it, but I am rarely in this forum as I don’t own the Jeep, so if you have questions, post questions in forum.
- Symptoms: cabin heat appears for 5 seconds, then no heat! Possible culprits:
1. Bad thermostats. Not sure but at 60K miles, we decided to replace them anyway.
2. Car came with no Cabin Air Filter, checked the blower area, seemed clean with no leaves/debris (which in severe cases can block the heater core ---> no heat!). Anyway, I dropped the glovebox door (squeeze both tabs behind the glovebox door and dropped it down), install new cabin Air Filter ($15 at Autozone) just to prevent leaves from blocking heater core.
3. Heater Hose: INLET is hot, but OUTLET is lukewarm. Flushed with water: the flow was nice in both directions, so heater core is not clogged. Maybe “air lock” is the culprit: see the mod at the end (reversing the coolant flow).
- BTW, see the threads by todde702, he posted some very good info on thermostats:
http://www.jeeppatriot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86613
PARTS:
- Primary Tstat 170F and Secondary Tstat 203F: “Motorad” brand are from autohausaz.com; about $45 for both.
- Factory is some kind of pink coolant (search forum), it is a debate here re coolant type (a debate I don’t want to get involved with). I have had good luck with Green Prestone, so we flushed the pinky stuff out and replaced with Green Prestone. Once you flush the engine block with water, there is always some water remaining inside. So 1 gallon (concentrated Prestone, not the 50-50 type) is good enough as system capacity is a bit less than 8L. Basically after a complete flush with water, fill with 1 gallon of concentrated coolant, then add distilled water. This way the system has 50-50 mix.
PROCEDURE:
1- Drain coolant is what the book says, but I didn’t want to get underneath with brittle plastic petcock, splashguard etc., so we simply flushed with water from above.
2- D/C the Plastic Air Intake (in front of the Air Filter Housing): twist the 2 knobs, remove it and set aside far from the car so you don’t step on it accidentally!
3- D/C the Rubber Intake from the Air Filter Housing: flat screw driver. Remember to re-attach the smaller hose to Air Filter Housing later. Lift the Air Filter Housing straight UPWARD, it is held by 2 rubber grommets.
4- D/C the electrical connector to the Temp Sensor at the Intake Rubber Hose.
5- Time to review some anatomy:
* Tstat Housing is held by three (3) 10-mm bolts:
View from engine side:
* The Primary Tstat housing is held by two (2) 10-mm bolts. The bottom bolt is a difficult one: use a 10-mm socket and extension: find the right angle to make sure you have a good bite! Do NOT strip the bolt!
* Note: the tstat gasket has a NOTCH that must fit in the housing’s NOTCH to ensure the air-bleed hole is at the top.
- This is a friend’s car 2009 Jeep Patriot with 60K miles. I am posting the instructions in case you guys need it, but I am rarely in this forum as I don’t own the Jeep, so if you have questions, post questions in forum.
- Symptoms: cabin heat appears for 5 seconds, then no heat! Possible culprits:
1. Bad thermostats. Not sure but at 60K miles, we decided to replace them anyway.
2. Car came with no Cabin Air Filter, checked the blower area, seemed clean with no leaves/debris (which in severe cases can block the heater core ---> no heat!). Anyway, I dropped the glovebox door (squeeze both tabs behind the glovebox door and dropped it down), install new cabin Air Filter ($15 at Autozone) just to prevent leaves from blocking heater core.
3. Heater Hose: INLET is hot, but OUTLET is lukewarm. Flushed with water: the flow was nice in both directions, so heater core is not clogged. Maybe “air lock” is the culprit: see the mod at the end (reversing the coolant flow).
- BTW, see the threads by todde702, he posted some very good info on thermostats:
http://www.jeeppatriot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86613
PARTS:
- Primary Tstat 170F and Secondary Tstat 203F: “Motorad” brand are from autohausaz.com; about $45 for both.
- Factory is some kind of pink coolant (search forum), it is a debate here re coolant type (a debate I don’t want to get involved with). I have had good luck with Green Prestone, so we flushed the pinky stuff out and replaced with Green Prestone. Once you flush the engine block with water, there is always some water remaining inside. So 1 gallon (concentrated Prestone, not the 50-50 type) is good enough as system capacity is a bit less than 8L. Basically after a complete flush with water, fill with 1 gallon of concentrated coolant, then add distilled water. This way the system has 50-50 mix.
PROCEDURE:
1- Drain coolant is what the book says, but I didn’t want to get underneath with brittle plastic petcock, splashguard etc., so we simply flushed with water from above.
2- D/C the Plastic Air Intake (in front of the Air Filter Housing): twist the 2 knobs, remove it and set aside far from the car so you don’t step on it accidentally!
3- D/C the Rubber Intake from the Air Filter Housing: flat screw driver. Remember to re-attach the smaller hose to Air Filter Housing later. Lift the Air Filter Housing straight UPWARD, it is held by 2 rubber grommets.
4- D/C the electrical connector to the Temp Sensor at the Intake Rubber Hose.
5- Time to review some anatomy:
* Tstat Housing is held by three (3) 10-mm bolts:
View from engine side:
* The Primary Tstat housing is held by two (2) 10-mm bolts. The bottom bolt is a difficult one: use a 10-mm socket and extension: find the right angle to make sure you have a good bite! Do NOT strip the bolt!
* Note: the tstat gasket has a NOTCH that must fit in the housing’s NOTCH to ensure the air-bleed hole is at the top.