Cleaning cooling system corrosion...

[vince77]

BLUF: can I safely scrape/clean the crud off my thermostat cover and reuse it?



Had a few hours to kill, decided to flush out the green coolant and swap the thermostat and hoses on my recently rescued 240D. And I was making good progress too... Started at the firewall and worked my way down the system, hose by hose, then the block drain. Not much sediment/rust/corrosion... except for the thermostat cover pipe... it looked pretty horror show.

'Oh well' I think as I proceed to break two of the three bolt heads off... 'Oh well' I think as I wack my dead blow mallet against a strategically placed length of broom handle... 'OH WOW' I think as the horror show cover slowly peels off the thermostat housing...

So, clearly I'm going to PB Blast/torch the bolts and get them out, but what can I do with this thermostat cover? I'm not sure a new hose would seal properly against... well... whatever the heck that is. What do these cost nowadays? (couldn't find it on first search... is it a cover or a housing?)

I get a few days to figure it out, since the crazy mudslides out here have cut me off from work. But I'd really like to be able to clean her up, grab some bolts and get back on the road. No one looks at me when I'm rolling in the prius...