98 explorer temp gage staying on H?

[jwgeetar]

hey all,

i was coming down the freeway today when i turned my ac on. it never seemed to get cold. actually it got warmer and so i shut it off. i looked over and saw my temp gage heading to H. i got off the freeway and parked it. no water/antifreeze leaking anywhere. so i let it cool and checked the radiator. full up. even the resivoir was half full although dark in color.

after it cooled off, went another 5 miles and stopped. same thing. i kept going all the way home with the temp gage 6/8's full--not quite all the way. once the "check engine" light came on. i didn't bog down or engine die.

hmmmm,what is up with this? is the thermastadt going crazy? the engine don't seem any hotter than normal everytime i checked it.

BTW,this is the only gage acting this way. anybody seen this before? JW

 

[Alec]

brown coolant? that's not good.

Probably thermostat.

 

[boominXplorer]

my moms sohc had the same thing happen and it would idol around 1500. Probibly thermistat like alec said

 

[jwgeetar]

yea---that was the only thing i could come up with. the thermostadt. is that a big deal to change out myself? or do ya have to remove the radiator and such?

how long can i drive it without it going out? thx

 

[jwgeetar]

also, would a bad thermostadt cause the air conditioner to shut down??

 

[Alec]

yes, since the A/C makes the engine hotter.

 

[jwgeetar]

thanks alex, much appreciated. well i drove it to work this am and after 15 min it went to H all the way and the "check engine" light came on. i was looking to pull over when the temp gage went to 3/4 and the check engine light went off. stopped and got some gas and looked around. no leak. it made it to work a total of 15 miles on a 35 mph road with 5 school zones.

sooooooo, how long can i go like this? i don't need the air con right now.(it still don't work this am).

i'm trying to pinpoint this thing before i take it to the ford dealer so they won't "Gouge" me to bad. thx,jw

 

[SplashMan]

Replace the t-stat ASAP, but in the mean time put your heat on full, rear controls too... I had to drive around for a week like that in mine, cause no place had a t-stat. This was mid August too. The defrost setting is the best for not having the cab get unbearably hot. The t-stat is easy to replace, took me about 30 min once the part came in.

 

[aldive]

I would do it right away.

 

[VOATMJ1]

Your thermostat is sticking. Same thing happened to me. Would be driving, and temp gage would go through the roof, and then all of a sudden, the thermostat would open and the temp gage would drop like a rock.

I put in a new stat, and all is well. BTW, DO NOT GET A FORD (Motorcraft) THERMOSTAT! They are junk!!! I went through 3 of them under warranty. I made my dealer at the 4th time, put in a NAPA one, (at my expense, $3 bucks, big deal) and over a year later, it is still working fine.

 

[jwgeetar]

thanks a lot guys. i took the afternoon off and limped home and will put this sucker in. will update later!

 

[jwgeetar]

alright----it's running like a big dog. thanks for the help you guys. very much appreciated. i sure am glad this site exist's for us explorer freaks.

i bought a murray thermostadt from O'reily auto parts for $18.99. i had never worked under the hood in this explorer yet and had bigtime doughts with all the crap in my way. but i did and so far so good. that air con is colder than ice. again,thx.jw

 

[Majisto]

Just pull the darn thing out. You don't need a thermostat at all. It's only useful in cold climates when you need to coolant to circulate through the block to heat up faster. In summer time, many people here just take their out.

 

[aldive]

Originally posted by Majisto
Just pull the darn thing out. You don't need a thermostat at all. It's only useful in cold climates when you need to coolant to circulate through the block to heat up faster. In summer time, many people here just take their out.

I definately would ignore this advise.

 

[jwgeetar]

yea, this guy at work was telling me to just leave it out.
i had grave doubts about that. if it comes with it,put it back in i say.