Over heating again POS

[RobbieJ]

Ok guys I'm begaining to think about parking the ol'explorer for a while. The stress is more then I can stand. Lets see it all began last summer one fine day it just decided to start over heating. Well number one due to the fact that my tempature gauge didn't work and two me being an idiot I ended up burning up the transmission and cracking one head 3 times from it over heating but the funny thing is that it only overheated two times. Anyway after putting new heads and a new transmission and replacing the radiator, all the hoses and the thremostat and tempature guage and the fan clutch, it was fixed. Well today the stupid SOB over heated again under normal driving conditions. So I replaced the thermostat and started it up and the guage hit the H in like 2 minutes WTF. I'm just thinking of driving the piece of **** with no thermostat. Any Ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Oh yeah the water pump is like a year and a half old too and the heater core is craked. Does anyone know where I can get one cheap? thanks Robbie

 

[asp84]

-install a manual temp guage to monitor true temp
-keep the thermostat or go to 180 D.
-Have the Radiator and engine flushed.
-Check to see if the radiator needs to be rodded out or replaced. Does it drain properly?
-a new heater core costs around $40-75 estimate
-check that the waterpump is not leaking from weep hole.

 

[Sschultz]

First off... once you over heat the truck, and it really got hot, you should look into replacing the sending unit for the temp gauge. I cooked mine good once and it never read right until I replaced the temp sending unit.

Are you loosing coolant ? I ask this question for two reasons. First because your looking for a cheap heater core, because your old one is cracked. The second lets assume that the temp gauges is reading correctly, and it pegged out within a couple of seconds. The only way (with the info given) it could do this is, if there wasn't enough coolant/water in the system.

I wouldn't invest any time or money in a new thermostat, as of yet. after all, the only thing it does is open and close, according to the fliud temp. ( if theres no fluid in contact with the thermostat, you can't expect it to work properly).
With the engine cool remove the radiator cap and top off the system with coolant. Start the truck and bring it up to temp. (it's going to "burp" a couple of times as the truck heats up and the thremostat opens and closes). Once it's up to temp top the radiator off, look inside the radiator and visually see if you have a good fluid flow. Fi you do great, if you don't something is plugged up. Once it's up to temp and the radiator keeps spewing up coolant ( like a water fountin) then that usually indicates you blew a nother head or head gasket.

asp84 is correct the heater core isn't to expensive but, if I remember correctly the instal can be costly, because you have to disassemble the A/C lines to install the heater core. (I would double check this assumption because I've never acctuially installed a heater core on an explorer before)

 

[Shane91Explorer]

Never trust a Ford gauge

I have replaced my temp sensor, fuel sending unit, and my oil pressure sensor several times in the 168,000 miles I've owned my Mustang. I have noticed the gauges on my Explorer are the same damn way. One minute I have a full tank of gas, the next 3/4. Replace the sensor! I bet that's the problem.

 

[RobbieJ]

Thanks for all the info guys I'm in the process of missing around with it so I'll keep you posted. Robbie