Stilo 2.4 & JTD Thermostat Replacement

Ok, so now the real challenge begins as you need to start pulling pipes off the old 'stat.

Now you'll remember me saying the factor hose clamps are not re-usable; they really aren't.




They start out looking a bit like this, and there is certainly a knack to removing them which involves are careful balance of patience, swearing and physical violence.




The best way I found to remove them is to fold up the two metal flaps you can see in the pic by sticking in a screw driver and twisting. That then lets you peal up two flaps folded across band on the clamp, effectively releasing the tail of the clamp for you to peel it off. End result looks like this.




Some of them might be difficult to do in this method, but I managed it on all but one. The other option is a little more risky as you can poke a small flat screwdriver under the band of the clamp and simply lever it upwards. That should make the band slip if you give it enough well. If you can get it to slip enough to slide it back down the pipe then you can remove it when the pipe is free of the stat.

Reference your replacement part to see that you've removed the clamps for all pipes you're working on.

The tiny little top hose on the Abarth stat does have re-usable clips, which you can just pop with a small flat screw driver. Sorry didn't picture these.

You might as well pop the clip on the connector for the temp sensor at this point too. Be careful it'll be brittle with the constant heat cycles.