1999 Ford Explorer Sport Temp

[tmale]

Recently my temp. gauge has not been going up to normal. Researched a little and think it is the thermostat. Coolant level has not gone down at all. How hard of a job is it to do? How can you tell if your thermostat you have now is broken? Would it be worth just taking it in? Thanks!

 

[koda2000]

Recently my temp. gauge has not been going up to normal. Researched a little and think it is the thermostat. Coolant level has not gone down at all. How hard of a job is it to do? How can you tell if your thermostat you have now is broken? Would it be worth just taking it in? Thanks!

quite possible it's the thermostat. I had this condition on a 2000 Mountaineer V8 last winter. if I let it sit and idle for 15 mins the temp gauge would just barely move off "C". when driving it didn't move at all, and the fuel economy was terrible. the CEL eventually came on and gave a code for "insufficient temp for closed loop operation" P0125 I think. odd thing was the heater still worked, but then the temp gauge doesn't really measure the water temp as much as it tells you if it's w/in normal range (note the lack of any actual numbers on the gauge). if the water temp is about normal it always registers in the center of the gauge. I had already proved it wasn't the gauge by grounding the sender wire, which causes the temp needle to peg at full "H". I was thinking it might have been the temp sensor until the CEL came on. I replaced the thermostat and the gauge then went back to normal. it's been fine ever since and the fuel economy returned to normal (not good rather than terrible... LOL).

 

[bingorn]

!996 4.0L was definately the thermostat!

 

[1992fordgreen]

Yep, 99% chance its the thermo. Stuck open. Better than stuck closed i'd say...lol