stupid question thermostat direction

please tell me which way the thermostat goes in ,is it with the spring tail
to the block or the head opening side to the block .Which way does the
water flow out of the block or into the block at the thermostat? .I have a
187 and a 192 degree thermostat and had so much bothers with the bolts
seizing up I forgot which way it was originally .TOLD YOU IT WAS A STUPID
QUESTION and I do feel stupid .

 

Not as stupid as putting it in the wrong way. Think of it this way:
The thermostat tries to keep the engine temperature constant. So the
sensing part of the thermostat has to be toward the engine. Coolant
then has to flow out of the engine there, or the cool coolant passing
over the thermostat will cause it to close immediately. The temperature
sensing side of the thermostat is the one with the wax pellet and
spring. Also, your thermostat may have a small hole with a "jiggle pin"
- turn the thermostat so that's at the high point, this is to help burp
the air out of the system.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

Just found the answer in the IPD catalogue and yes got it round the wrong
way didn't I ?So much for the grey hair ,what a smuck ?

 

i just guessed (instead of stopping and "asking") one
day and almost "toasted" my motor....so, its not such
a stupid question......

 

BTW the thermostat that was in the car originally was too hot 92 deg where
as the correct one for the 1990 740 turbo is 87 Deg .I wonder how much
difference the 92 deg vs the 87 deg affects the sensors and other critical
settings .