2003 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer 4.0l V6 Overheating saga

[titanium1.8]

Car started overheating at 225,000km going up steep hills. What do I do? Check the thermostat, it checked out fine. The thermostat have been replaced with a Dorman Upper/Lower housing +thermostat due to a leaking housing a year prior. I proceeded with a coolant flush/cleaner, the truck ran well for a few days without overheating. Drained cleaner and replaced with 50/50 mix and it ran without overheating for a few more days. We only drive it in the city and it didn't overheat.

Finally, we drove it on the highway and it started to overheat. I changed the water pump/ idler pulley/ tensioner due to the high mileage. all the bearing were shot.

I hoped this would fix the problem but it didn't. After idling for 15 minutes after changing the coolant parts it started to overheat.

Today I disconnected the radiator and this is what I saw, alot of thoughts are going through my mind. Radiator clogged due to coolant flush? Brown deposit due to rusted waterpump?

"Photos removed by Admin due to the advertisement that were associated with them'

 

[Number4]

A clogged radiator and or a bad fan clutch may be your issue. Looking for issues on the "nice" side of troubles. Are you low or losing coolant?

 

[Tech By Trade]

I concur, fins gone on the waterpump is another option as well. Could be a bad thermostat out of box, or early failure as well.

 

[titanium1.8]

trying again with the images, removed links to the bigger images

 

[titanium1.8]

A clogged radiator and or a bad fan clutch may be your issue. Looking for issues on the "nice" side of troubles. Are you low or losing coolant?

I'm curious about the fan clutch. When I changed the water pump the fan clutch seems to look okay. It had a bit of residence when cold but the nut turns by hand. When running with the engine the fan seems to run pretty fast to me. I know it is supposed to run at a lower speed when cold and then full speed when hot. How do i know if i need a new one?

And I don't think I am losing coolant. No smoke in the tailpipe either.

I concur, fins gone on the waterpump is another option as well. Could be a bad thermostat out of box, or early failure as well.

See the image with the water pump. Seems like the original pump still had some fins but much thinner compared to the new. Probably where all the brown stuff came from. And one of the the thermostat was bad out of the box. Got it exchange but still weary of the quality of the brand.

 

[john cris]

whats up with that radiator? In the photo the lower portion looks bent
John

 

[titanium1.8]

whats up with that radiator? In the photo the lower portion looks bent
John

That was me jacking up the front of the truck with the cross member and then the jack slipping off, crushing the radiator 2 years ago.

 

[titanium1.8]

Finally fixed the cooling issue on my Explorer. The truck started to overheat when I switched from heat to AC when the weather got hot. I was able to keep driving by turning the heat back on. I tried to clean the coolant system with some radiator flush chemical and the situation got even worse. Would overheat on the highway. I suspect this plugged up the radiator even further.

I put in the new waterpump that I had laying around but it didn't fix the issue. The bearings on the waterpump and tensioners were shot anyway. When I put everything back together, I made a big mistake by installing it backwards despite reading numerous threads about this.

Not knowing this, I installed a new radiator, hoses, and expansion bottle since the old stuff is super gunked up. Problem still not fixed, I took the thermostat housing off and discovered the thermostat problem!

After installing it correctly the coolant system was back in business. Big lessons learned. Here are the parts that were involved:

DORMAN 603070 (603-070) Coolant Recovery Tank $ 30.79
GATES 22793 Radiator Lower Hose $ 10.44
GATES 22691 Radiator Upper Hose $ 11.54
TYC 2342 Radiator $ 64.79
DORMAN 902860 (902-860) Thermostat Housing / Water Outlet $ 42.79
GATES 43279 Water Pump $ 38.79
GATES ACK060854K1 Belt Drive Component Kit $ 56.79
kit includes Idler Pulley, Belt, Belt Tensioner