Conflicting opinions on changing a thermostat

[KDDFordlady]

Hello all

I have two conflicting opinions from two different mechanics on replacing the thermostat on a 2003 Explorer. First the problem. With all the heat in Georgia I the AC is a must. Driving to a ballgame the Hi temp gauge needle moved sky high and the message center flash " Reduced Engine Power". I stopped the truck and checked my coolant. It was still at the fill line when I restarted the truck gauge back to normal. It has done this few times but always back to normal. Took it to the mechanic who said I had a coolant leak and that I need a new thermostat along with a new manifold. Price quote was above my pay grade so I went for a second opinion. This mechanic says thermostat but I would need to replace the housing along with the thermostat because it leaks. Anyone else who has had this problem? I am trying really hard not to get burned for extra repairs I may not need. Thanks in advance.

 

[Number Twelve]

I would consider electrical problems. For instance, my gas gauge stuck on empty when the tank was very full. A couple of cans of Seafoam cleaned up the sender part in the gas tank. If your car doesn't have signs of overheating when the gauge pegs, look for electrical problems.

 

[apenland01]

If you have a coolant leak, it will be obvious looking near the thermostat housing. It will look like whitish or light yellow crusty stuff for a slow leak or actual liquid for a larger leak. You would also notice the reservoir level dropping. It is common for the thermostat housing to leak and the intake manifold to be cracked as well. If it is overheating and going into failsafe mode, then returns to normal, and you don't seem to be losing coolant, you may just have a sticky thermostat. If you don't deal with it, you will likely blow a hose or the radiator itself, since half of it is plastic.....

The cheapest fix is to replace just the thermostat and seal to see if this corrects the problem. Shouldn't be more than $30-40 in parts and an hour of labor, assuming you aren't doing this repair yourself.

I have a 2005 and it has had the intake manifold and thermostat housing replaced with better parts, due to similar issues.

 

[KDDFordlady]

If you have a coolant leak, it will be obvious looking near the thermostat housing. It will look like whitish or light yellow crusty stuff for a slow leak or actual liquid for a larger leak. You would also notice the reservoir level dropping. It is common for the thermostat housing to leak and the intake manifold to be cracked as well. If it is overheating and going into failsafe mode, then returns to normal, and you don't seem to be losing coolant, you may just have a sticky thermostat. If you don't deal with it, you will likely blow a hose or the radiator itself, since half of it is plastic.....

The cheapest fix is to replace just the thermostat and seal to see if this corrects the problem. Shouldn't be more than $30-40 in parts and an hour of labor, assuming you aren't doing this repair yourself.

I have a 2005 and it has had the intake manifold and thermostat housing replaced with better parts, due to similar issues.

Thank you both. I am going to get the thermostat replaced see what happens. I have a quote for 150 for just the thermostat and 550 for the thermostat plus housing. Ugh. Everytime things like this happen I wish I took shop class back in high school.

 

[lincolnshibuya]

it's very common for the v8 to have an intake manifold coolant leak, the manifold set comes with the thermostat. the thermostat housing on the v8 is metal and rarely leaks (unlike the plastic in 4.0 v6)

 

[TechGuru]

I stopped the truck and checked my coolant. It was still at the fill line when I restarted the truck gauge back to normal. It has done this few times but always back to normal. .

Sounds like a bad temp sensor to me...

 

[KDDFordlady]

Sounds like a bad temp sensor to me...

Okay I made the decision to try changing it myself with the help of my son. I take offense to paying someone 120.00 in labor for a 20 dollar part. I check my housing it is metal I saw no coolant loss driving home or to work. I will do a bit more research on the temp sensor because might as well change that too.

 

[Joe in NY]

Um guys... He is in Georgia... He is overheating... Ford used the stone aged clutch fan on these cars... The clutches wear out..

Let your car sit over night. When you start it you should hear your fan roar for around 10 seconds or so. If it doesn't you most likely have a bad fan clutch.

Also, when it is cold, before you start it, the fan should be hard to spin by hand. If it is easy, bad clutch.

Another tip, take a garden hose to your Radiator and AC Condenser. Best thing to do is take the upper fan shroud off and rinse from behind first then the front. Bugs and dirt can really clog the AC Condenser and the Radiator.

Do some actual diagnosing and free easy to do procedures before you start throwing parts at it.

My friend had the same problem come spring time here in NY with a late 90s F150 with a 4.6L. He put a thermostat in, still overheated, bought a water pump, asked me for help, I stopped him, checked some things, and sure enough, the radiator was clogged. I have no idea how this happened but the radiator had a thick blanket of mud on it and the fan couldn't move a breath of air. Some how the AC condenser was clean... So I took the upper shroud off and rinsed out the radiator and condenser really well. We went up every steep around at WOT (there are some STEEP hills here) and it never budged above normal.

 

[KDDFordlady]

Um guys... He is in Georgia... He is overheating... Ford used the stone aged clutch fan on these cars... The clutches wear out..

Let your car sit over night. When you start it you should hear your fan roar for around 10 seconds or so. If it doesn't you most likely have a bad fan clutch.

Also, when it is cold, before you start it, the fan should be hard to spin by hand. If it is easy, bad clutch.

Another tip, take a garden hose to your Radiator and AC Condenser. Best thing to do is take the upper fan shroud off and rinse from behind first then the front. Bugs and dirt can really clog the AC Condenser and the Radiator.

Do some actual diagnosing and free easy to do procedures before you start throwing parts at it.

My friend had the same problem come spring time here in NY with a late 90s F150 with a 4.6L. He put a thermostat in, still overheated, bought a water pump, asked me for help, I stopped him, checked some things, and sure enough, the radiator was clogged. I have no idea how this happened but the radiator had a thick blanket of mud on it and the fan couldn't move a breath of air. Some how the AC condenser was clean... So I took the upper shroud off and rinsed out the radiator and condenser really well. We went up every steep around at WOT (there are some STEEP hills here) and it never budged above normal.

I will give this a try this evening. Can't hurt. My motto is research research.

 

[KDDFordlady]

So I tried the fan test this morning. While cold I popped the hood turn the fan and it spins. So apparently the prize goes to the gentleman from NY. I read that if my AC is going to down to lukewarm in stop and go traffic( this is the case) this is also a sign of a bad fan clutch. Thank you all so much for helping this Georgia peach save money.

 

[TechGuru]

Don't cheap out by getting a cheap chinese one...

 

[c0rtney]

If you have a coolant leak, it will be obvious looking near the thermostat housing. It will look like whitish or light yellow crusty stuff for a slow leak or actual liquid for a larger leak. You would also notice the reservoir level dropping. It is common for the thermostat housing to leak and the intake manifold to be cracked as well. If it is overheating and going into failsafe mode, then returns to normal, and you don't seem to be losing coolant, you may just have a sticky thermostat. If you don't deal with it, you will likely blow a hose or the radiator itself, since half of it is plastic.....

The cheapest fix is to replace just the thermostat and seal to see if this corrects the problem. Shouldn't be more than $30-40 in parts and an hour of labor, assuming you aren't doing this repair yourself.

I have a 2005 and it has had the intake manifold and thermostat housing replaced with better parts, due to similar issues.

I've been having problems with mine as well losing coolant and low heat in the winter/ no ac in summer(ac may be from something else). I just checked and as you mentioned, there is yellowish dried crud around thermostat housing... So would I need to replace the housing and thermostat? Any advice you can give would be awesome thank you.

 

[TechGuru]

I think all of us probably have some minor seepage there. I have to add about 1/4 of a gallon a year right now. Until I'm needing to add monthly I'm not going to worry about it.

 

[c0rtney]

I put a whole jug in around January and it already just barely visible in the reservoir. That seems like a lot I think? And then the ac went out on me a couple days ago... My truck is being a money pit lately....

 

[KDDFordlady]

Well after 4 hours, two rain delays, aa lot of cussing, and hammering. We got the new fan clutch on. I went ahead and put in a new thermostat, changed the hood struts and drained the old coolant and added some fresh. It might need a full on flush soon but what was in there did not look bad. I plan to monitor the levels and look for leaking. I feel so accomplished. Thanks again all for saving me money.

 

[lincolnshibuya]

Glad you didn't take the recommendations of the 1st 2 mechanics. I bet they didn't even look at the engine and just assume things (this happened to me before I started wrenching my cars) and you end up replacing good parts that don't need to be replaced at your own expense

 

[Joe in NY]

Hope it works!

Be sure to high idle the car from cold to hot WITHOUT the expansion tank cap on. This will allow the system to burp.

There is a correct tool to use to avoid this though. It sucks the cooling system into a vacuum and then fills with coolant. Also, green can look fine for years. But it turns acidic and eats everything in the system. Mine looked just fine, but was turning acidic bad. Important to test your coolant.

 

[TechGuru]

Green? If your coolant is green you are using the wrong coolant.

Here is the correct one:

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/AFZA/G05/N0496.oap

 

[Joe in NY]

The early build 2002s came with green. There is a whole TSB about it. I flushed mine 3 times and then put in the gold coolant. That coolant refill tool made short time of it!

 

[TechGuru]

I honestly don't know what is in mine. It's PINK. I am thinking FleetCharge.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/AFZ9/FLEET/N0496.oap

According to this chart

http://images.oreillyauto.com/uploads/pdf/ad/SD_672 AFZ Comparison Chart-1.pdf

the phosphate/silicate/nitrate is the same as the Zyrex Gold.