madpogue
Full Access Member
Replaced the cold idle/advance switch/sensor ('85, 6.9). It's the one on the front of the passenger side head, provides power to the fast idle solenoid and the cold advance below 62F. What a PITA. Thermostat housing makes it absolutely impossible to put a socket on it. It would be a five-minute job with the gooseneck (more like a brontosaurus neck...) out of the way. Stooopid me, the switch was probably inop ever since I bought the truck two years ago. I shoulda checked it back then, and swapped it out when I had the neck off when I flushed the coolant and replaced the 'stat.
Even a box end / combo wrench won't fit, with the shape of the intake manifold nearby, etc. And I wasn't about to muck with removing the 'stat housing; that means pulling the vacuum pump and alternator and the fuel filter bracket, draining and saving the coolant, refilling, etc.
I tried bending a cheapo Harbor Freight 7/8" combo, and grinding some off the outside wall and the bottom of the wrench, to get it to clear the manifold. I, uh... "overdid" it trying to bend it, and with the part I'd shaved off, I created a weak spot and broke it. Problem becomes opportunity. The break left a stub of handle on the box-end about an inch long. I ground the sides of the stub flat, about 3/4", slipped the open-end of a 3/4" combo onto that, slipped an extension bar through the box end of the 3/4" combo, and it worked like a redneck boxed crow's foot wrench. All the tool fussing turned it into a 2-hour job, in the dark at about 40F. But it doesn't leak, and it kicks the idle solenoid, and presumably the advance as well (sounds better just idling cold, anyway).
So takeaway -- with this gooseneck design, if you're replacing the thermostat, THAT'S the time to replace that switch if you need to.
Even a box end / combo wrench won't fit, with the shape of the intake manifold nearby, etc. And I wasn't about to muck with removing the 'stat housing; that means pulling the vacuum pump and alternator and the fuel filter bracket, draining and saving the coolant, refilling, etc.
I tried bending a cheapo Harbor Freight 7/8" combo, and grinding some off the outside wall and the bottom of the wrench, to get it to clear the manifold. I, uh... "overdid" it trying to bend it, and with the part I'd shaved off, I created a weak spot and broke it. Problem becomes opportunity. The break left a stub of handle on the box-end about an inch long. I ground the sides of the stub flat, about 3/4", slipped the open-end of a 3/4" combo onto that, slipped an extension bar through the box end of the 3/4" combo, and it worked like a redneck boxed crow's foot wrench. All the tool fussing turned it into a 2-hour job, in the dark at about 40F. But it doesn't leak, and it kicks the idle solenoid, and presumably the advance as well (sounds better just idling cold, anyway).
So takeaway -- with this gooseneck design, if you're replacing the thermostat, THAT'S the time to replace that switch if you need to.