Thermostat - its to Round

carolinarider · Mar 28, 2019

Replacing the water pump on my 1998 MF 1250 and decided to replace the thermostat while I was there. I did not notice it when I pulled it out but its not round. (See Pic)

The thermostat itself is round but the ring of metal it is mounted in is not round. In other words the thermostat is off center in the metal plate that holds it in place.

And since I did not notice that when I pull it out, I do not know which way it should be oriented. Any ideas?

Sorry the title is not correct and I don't know how to change it. Its suppose to say Thermostat - Its not Round

4get gto · Mar 28, 2019

I'd look down into the housing and maybe that would give you a indication. Some reason why it would have to be turned a certain way..? It's not off center by much..

carolinarider · Mar 28, 2019

I will give it a look again. There is no obvious indication as to which way it should mount (like an arrow or something like that). The only reason it might have to be a certain way is to make it line up with the top radiator hose connection. You can look down to the thermostat and it looks a little off center the way it assembled.

The only other issue is the O Ring is very small in diameter and is slightly smaller (that is it has to be slightly stretched to fit in the groove) then the groove it is suppose to fit into and as I said its thin and the groove is not very deep. So there is not much to hold it in place as you place the hose connection back on the engine block.

4get gto · Mar 29, 2019

Curious to how you made out..?

carolinarider · Mar 29, 2019

Ok. I should have closed the post. I removed the housing cover and tried to rotate it to be more central. I sort of got it centered but it sort of looked the same as before I rotated it.

As far as the O ring goes, I stretched it until it would fit in the grove and sort of stay there, applied some silicone grease to maybe help it stay and it did.

When I remove the housing to try various positions I found the O ring was equally spaced around the outside of the thermostat which means that if I left the O ring in place it would probably fit in the grove when the cover was put on. But I got it back into the grove anyway and re-installed it.

I think it looks a little more centered when I made the changes but not perfect. I should have taken a picture but I was more interested in getting the tractor back up and running so I did not.

In summary, I think it is now more centered but.... It works (I was replacing the water pump and just making some preventive replacements while I did the).

Started the tractor, verified the temperature went up to midscale and then back off a little (indicating the thermostat opened) and let it run. Seemed to work.

Thanks for asking.