Cooling System Problem. Never reach operating temp

[ryanb99]

Hi Forum. I am new here. I am fighting a problem with my wife's ford explorer and i decided to find a forum since i solve a lot of problems with my Honda on a forum.

My 2007 Ford Explorer V6 will not reach operating temp when turning engine on no matter how long it sits there and you can get no heat. As soon as you start driving down the road the temp gauge will start moving up above normal operating temp and then settle back down to normal and you get heat. It happens within a matter of seconds. Temp gauge flies up and back down.

I initially thought this was air in the system after doing a drain/refill because that is when the problem started. I have eliminated that i think. It had a coolant leak at the thermostat housing so i just finished replacing the thermostat housing, thermostat, and sensor. Didn't solve my problem. I haven't tried bleeding the system since i just finished, but i am going to do that now.

I don't know a whole lot about cars. I am just starting to try and learn all these things and do my own work. Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Ryan B.

 

[da1andonlyO]

Did you replace both sensors or just the one (coolant sensor - left side)? I had a similar issue with having no heat until I drove the vehicle with a new sensor on my 2000 Exploder. I then ended up replacing the whole thing again (leaky seal between lower and upper sections of the housing even after replacing o-ring) thermostat housing, thermostat itself, both the temp sensor (left) and sender sensor (right) and everything has been fine. You may need to replace the sender sensor since this one sends a linear signal to the instrument panel while the other is the temp sensor. Try that and I'm sure that if anyone else has some advise, it'll be helpful.

 

[ryanb99]

i think bleeding the air out got it this time. i had to top the coolant off a couple of times after parking on incline and running it a couple of times. i can only assume the thermostat housing was the initial problem and air in the system was my problem after changing the housing today. i am going to try to idle it up to operating temp early in the morning before i go to work. I doubt it makes a difference, but it is unseasonably warm outside right now. Will be colder in the morning. Hopefully it is good. Now to chase down the annoying chirping noise that i hope is a belt.

 

[ryanb99]

Did you replace both sensors or just the one (coolant sensor - left side)? I had a similar issue with having no heat until I drove the vehicle with a new sensor on my 2000 Exploder. I then ended up replacing the whole thing again (leaky seal between lower and upper sections of the housing even after replacing o-ring) thermostat housing, thermostat itself, both the temp sensor (left) and sender sensor (right) and everything has been fine. You may need to replace the sender sensor since this one sends a linear signal to the instrument panel while the other is the temp sensor. Try that and I'm sure that if anyone else has some advise, it'll be helpful.

2007 Only has one sensor on the thermostat housing da1andonly. If there is a second sensor, it isn't part of the housing.