2001 Explorer Sport Trac Over heating, need help!

[blueonblack2001]

HI there,
My name is Mandy, I am a 28 yro mother of two and I own a 2001 Sport Trac. My husband who normally does all of the repairs on my truck is currently deployed to Balad, Iraq. I am the second owner of this truck, and it has no warranty on it.
(long post I am sorry)
The truck has a V6 4.0 ltr engine, automatic, and has 71000 miles on it. 4 months ago I drove it from Hinesville, GA to California to reside while my husband is away. Shortly after arriving my check engine light came on. I took it to Autozone, ran a check on it, and the system was running too lean.

I had my dad replace the spark plugs on the thing, and after this, he claims he is NEVER working on it again, as it made his hand and arm look like mincemeat. (plugs are in odd places apparently). The truck ran fine for about two weeks.

So, to my current problem.
I went to pick up my daughter from school yesterday, about a mile and a half from the house. As I arrive into the parking lot, I hear strange clunking sounds coming from my truck. So I turned it off. Noises cease.

As I am driving home, I am about 2 blocks from the house and the truck literally lurched forward and started to run VERY hot, the needle jumped from its normal middle postion to in the "red". I turned the heat up all the way, and slowly drove it home. When I got it home, I smell the acrid smell of coolant burning up and open the hood up. I notice that the resivouir has tons of fluid in it, but that it is no longer the wonderful clear green it was when it was put in, but now pukey colored with chunks of crud floating. Then a louds draining sound, and no more fluid in the res or the radiator.

No leaks either.

So I drive up to the parts store and get some Prestone Flush. But first I filled the radiator and the res up with cool water and let it run for 15 to 20 mins. It seemed to run fine last night, with no leaks.

So, this am, my dad went on ahead and drained it, added the flush, and since the directions call for it to run 3 to 6 hours, and can be done intermittently, I went on and took my daughter to school.

As I was coming home, it started to overheat, AGAIN! And I know there is plenty of fluid!!!

So, I have spent the better part of the morning researching to figure out what is wrong with my baby.

Here is what I have come up with. Can someone please tell me if I am in the right direction?

I figure the next thing to do, is to replace the thermostat. I hear that this can be a frequent problem with Fords, and it may do the trick.

So, I plan on having dad replace that, refill with the flush, run it, then drain, fill with water, run it, drain and then 50/50 fill it...

AM I in the right direction??? Thanks so much for your help guys, I hate to go to a shop, esp if it may be an easy fix. And everytime I go to a shop, they seem to think that I am some naive twit who doesnt know the gas cap from the radiator cap. Thanks!!
Mandy

 

[Ray Lobato]

Hi Mandy, and welcome to the board. I does sound like the Thermostat is getting stuck and causing the engine to overheat. It also sounds like you need to flush the engine out with some amount of pressure to clean out the debri. I usually do this while I have the thremostat out by taking a towel and wrapping it around a water hose and putting it in the hole in the engine. Just run it until the water comes out clean. Then put the thermostat back in. Remember that you have to burp th cooling system to make usre that you got all the air out of it. Oh and tell you father that it's easier to change the plugs if he goes through the wheel wells. It still isn't easy, but your hands won't look like hamburger.
One more thing, please thank your husband for his service to our nation and tell him to be carfull out there.

 

[blueonblack2001]

Hey Ray,
And thanks for the quick response!
So, I am proabably on the right track then. OK. Thank Goodness, it may not be something terribly bad.

Dad should be doing it in a few hours, when he returns from golf, I will let you know what the outcome is.

And Thank You for your very nice comments about my husband. It sounds weird, but to hear thank you makes it a little bit more bearable. I will pass on the good thoughts.

Mandy

 

[blueonblack2001]

So, if anyone was interested, we fixed the current problem buy replacing the therm. It wasnt really a big deal, but dad forgot to put on the gasket! (the new did not come with one, so we used the old one which was in good shape.)

But have now sprouted a new problem.

gah...

When we turned on the heat after putting new coolant in the system, it just didnt get hot. As a matter of fact, it felt almost cold. Which is awfully strange when it got up to 100 degrees here. Some fiddling around followed, to discover that the air was coming on with the heat. More fiddling and we finally get a nominal amount of heat.

So I guess I am going to be forced to take it to be serviced, at the dealership. I just dont want to get ripped off. Sad but true. What should I listen for when they tell me what is wrong? I need to go on ahead and get the tranny serviced too, since I have never done it, and I have had it nearly two years and there are 70000 miles on it....

So.. what do you all think? What should I be listening for when they tell me whats wrong?

TIA
Mandy

 

[budwich]

I don't believe changing the therm will cause the air to come on with the heat. Note, that on some units, depending on what selector you choose along with what the blue red temp control is set, air will come on instead of heat. Choose either the floor only or the upper vent only and turn the temp to all red. In addition, when you change / drain antifreeze, the heat hose lines usually get air in them which prevents them from heating initially, eventually the system will usually get rid of the air after a number of heat cycles. I think this is what your problem is... maybe...

 

[blueonblack2001]

awesome, and thanks. I will let my dad know. We will give a while and see what happens. I still think I need to get my tranny serviced, it is about time, huh? LOL
thanks for the help!!!
Mandy

 

[TPLYNCH]

As Gerald mentioned, you need to "burp" the air out of the system. This does take a while. Also, ask your dad if he remembers installing the thermostat with the weep hole in the 12 oclock positon. If you search for How to change thermostat you should find more detailed instructions on how to burp the system. Don't bring to the stealership. The heat will return..... And don't be afraid to ask questions if you can't find the answers via the search!

I'd also like to express my appreciation of your husbands service, and for you as well, cause it isn't only the soldiers who are facing hardships!

 

[Ray Lobato]

I agree with Tom, the you need to burp the system. I usually find it helpful to have the truck on an incline facing upwards. Air will move towards the front of the engine and usually burp out easier that way. Also I hope you installed the correct temperature thermostat.

 

[gijoecam]

First of all, welcome to the board. I'd offer to help troubleshoot it in person, but it's a bit of a drive. I'd love to do anything I can to help support the families of our troops.

Second, I apologize for the length.... I tend to get diarrhea of the fingers from time to time.... I guess this was one of those times LOL!

A couple of things.... first of all, I believe it's a 4.0 SOHC motor (could you get the OHV in a Sport Trac?). The thermostat sits horizontally, so there's no need to worry about getting the thermostat "clocked" correctly. If it's in there and sealed, it's fine. It's not a bad idea to replace the o-ring when changing the t'stat, but if it's in there and sealed-up, it's not worth opening it back up just for that.

The lurching when the engine is running hot is normal. When the computer sees that the engine is getting hot, it raises the idle speed of the engine in an attempt to circulate more coolant and get more airflow through the radiator from the engine-driven fan. The high idle is a result of the overheating condition, not the other way around. The key is getting to the bottom of the overheating, and the thermostat is certainly the logical place to start.

The thing that alarms me about your situation is the "pukey colored with chunks of crud floating" coolant you saw. The chunks.... did it look like rusty debris, or was it more like a foamy, frothy mixture with reddis-brown spots in it? Dirty, rusty-colored antifreeze isn't anything major to worry about, and the flush should have helped it. Anything else and it could be a few things, none of which are good news.

Now, on to the heat issue.

Like they said, once you drain and refill the system, it can take a few heat cycles for the system to purge itself of all the air. What can happen the first time or two you start it is that the air bubble can be trapped around the thermostat, making it take longer to open up and allow the hot water to circulate through the system. (the air isn't as conductive of heat as the water is) On the older 4.0 liter OHV engines, there was a little bleeder opening that had to be in the 12:00 position to allow the system to self-bleed. On the 4.0 SOHC motor, the orientation and location of the thermostat eliminates that problem. However, until all the air in the system purges itself, keep an eye on the level of coolant in the reservoir as it should drop slightly the first time or three after the refill.

What leads you to believe you need the transmission serviced? If it's just the regular maintenance, any good local transmission shop should be able to do a fluid and filter change for much less than the dealership. But by all means, go where you feel comfortable and confident they will do the job right.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

-Joe

 

[blueonblack2001]

Hey there guys,
Gosh yall are so helpful!!
OK, so when I get into the truck I have been turning on the heat, to get some of the aformentioned air out, and guess what, we have heat!!! Not that I need it during this time, it is 109 degrees today... But, it works!

Yes, it is SOHC,not OHV, I do not think that is available on the sport trac... Too bad. LOL. He just used to old o ring, but it was funny because after he put the new one in, he didnt have a good seal and it was leaking. I asked him, did you put in a new o ring? He sarcasticly thanked me for telling him in advance. He is surprised that I have enough sense to know what I am talking about, but what he doesnt know, is I can research the hell out of something to find my answer. So, it is all good now.

As for the nasty coolant, it was not anything my dad worried about, and I imagine that the system had not been flushed in some time. I know in the year and a half we have had it , it hadnt been, so.... it was a good idea to do the flush either way. It seems to be doing ok now.

The same goes for the tranny service. I know we havent done anything to it and it has 70000 miles. So, I think it is a good idea to get it serviced, for regular service. I am in the process of finding a good mechanic, I am new to the area, and my parents can afford to go to the dealership, so they dont really know of anyone. I called the dealership, and a service is 289!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seems a bit steep to me. I need to find a good mechanic.

I wanted to thank you guys for all of your help, I'm sure I will be needing it again, and I will keep up with the boards, because you all are so nice. I told my hubby all about you all, and he was very impressed and wanted to thank you for your well wishes as well as myself. So thanks a bunch. Yall take care,
Mandy

 

[410Fortune]

Call around town to local transmission rebuilders.
Find one who has a BG transmission backflush machine.
They should charge you no more then $100 to perform a complete transmission fluid exchange. If your truck requires Mercon 5 it will be alot more then $100, but I think your 01 will be okay with regular Mercon.

 

[gijoecam]

Fluid and filter the old manual way, including a back-flush to get the fluid out of the torque converter ran me $75 at the local trans shop. (It may have been $95 because they replaced the fiter too.... less than $100 either way)

Sounds like the system just needed to burp the air out.

For future reference, the thermostat from the dealership runs $30 and is a German part, but it includes the new o-ring. It was worth it for me because nobody had the replacement o-ring except the dealer.

Glad you got it fixed! Sounds like me: I'm not smart, just a resourceful idiot.

 

[410Fortune]

$30 for a thermostat and O ring? My word!
hahaha
Take the old O ring to Carquest or even Pep Boys, you can find a match.

 

[blueonblack2001]

And I love being a resourceful idiot. Works for me! Hopefully we wont need a new threm for a while, but this one ran about 7.99 w/o the oring. Our dealer out here wanted 45!! They are a true rip off!!

Thanks for all the help yall!

 

[410Fortune]

OH you mean the parts department at your local Stealership?