Which way does thermostat go ?

[Bitsta]

Hey guys, I've just recently done a coolant flush, when I took off the thermostat housing, I didn't look at which way the thermostat goes in, so now I'm just running no thermostat because it kept heating up on me when I put it back in. It's a ae82 bigport, with still the fwd cooling setup.
I'm trying to find the hot side of the pipe.
Shouldn't the hot water come out the back of the head "drivers side" then heat the thermostat and then have the hot coolant go into the bottom of the radiator, then cooled, then Pumped back in from the top ?
Just puzzled me cos it seemed like the thermostat was on the wrong side, and it didn't open up, so it seemed like it had massive air in the system and kept filling the overflow tank instead of going into the engine. Unless is feeds from bottom to top :/
Your help with be much appreciated guys !

[Jip86]

The coolant flows from the bottom of the rad, through the motor then back into the top of the radiator.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VnHuuVXP4_A/SVoD5jRcrKI/AAAAAAAAAF4/rss5_wnqeok/s1600/4agze%2Bwater%2Bsystem%2Bcconverstion.jpg so does yours look like this? spring on the thermostat faces upwards toward the bonnet.

You can throw it in a bucket of boiling water to see if it opens.

[Bitsta]

My setup doesn't look anywhere like that, it use to be a 4ac, not sure if they used the stock cooling setup or it is the fwd setup.
Ill link some pics 28450
28451

[Jip86]

That's the fwd setup, the spring side of the thermostat points to the rear of the car. Those rubber hoses bent over like that will probably be the cause of the air lock that's making it over heat.

I'd put the thermostat back in as the water can flow to fast through the block to cool anything with out the restriction, then run it with the rad full of water/coolant and cap off (5 mins or so) until the bottom hose gets warm indicating the thermostat is open then pull those hoses straight to try and get the air out, top up the rad and put the cap on.

i hope it works out!

[Bitsta]

Even if I change it to rwd setup, would the flow of the coolant change ?

[Jip86]

no, the only change is everything is abit neater (the thermostat housing is part of the back of the water pump) and less likely to get airlocks because of shorter hoses that are straighter

[Bitsta]

Would I require a rwd water pump ? Or is the housing + hoses all I need ?

[shammy]

you can use the 4ac water pump , just file a little of the top

[Bitsta]

Sweet, thanks a lot guys !
I'm pretty mechanically minded, but it's my first 4age, doesn't help that there's the fwd version, bigport, smallport, 20v, even thought a lot of things are interchangeable. I just don't want to get the part then it actually doesn't fit like the search button tells me.

[Jip86]

water pumps similar but the offset for the pulley is different (you can reuse your pump and pulley), housing and hoses are different. the rwd water housings only came out on ae71s and ae86s
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii10/Mighty_Duckster/4A-GE%20Water%20Guide/rear_housings.jpg

it would be easier to reconfigure yours to look like thishttp://www.toycrazy.net/gallery/corolla/jd/pics/4ageke30-022.jpg

[Bitsta]

That thermostat housing on the second picture, that's the 4ac housing yes ? So that a maybe shorten a couple houses and a new hose for it to reach the bottom outlet of the radiator

[Jip86]

i think you could get away with just re-hosing what you've got with out swapping the housings over.

[Bitsta]

Sweet, hopefully pretty straight forward and doesn't give me any hassles.
Thanks a lot !