thermostat inquiry

2002 MAZDA PROTEGE

120,000 MILES • 4 CYL • 2WD • AUTOMATIC

DUMMYGIRL559

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I bought a thermostat from AutoZone. i told them what year and they gave me the right one for my car. well, I went to change it out and I found that there was no thermostat at all. it seems like it has been tampered with. first of all it is some strange square piece that has a metal line that connects to the radiator hose. my thermostat doesn't fit because the piece that is in my car is square what is this. I believe someone has been tampering with my engine due to other odd missing bolts etc. please help me?

Feb 12, 2021 at 7:22 PM

DANNY L

CERTIFIED EXPERT
5,648 POSTS

Hello, I'm Danny.

Here is a thermostat tutorial for you to view in getting you started on how to change a thermostat:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-an-engine-thermostat-works

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/replace-thermostat

I've attached picture steps below on thermostat replacement on your car. These images will show the correct factory Mazda thermostat components and I've circled them in red. You mentioned yours is square so if you can take a pictures of your thermostat housing and upload it here. Hope this helps and let us know if you have any further questions on this issue. Thanks for using 2CarPros.

Images (Click to enlarge)

Feb 12, 2021 at 10:52 PM