overheating on a 98

[jeffseal]

My brothers 98 explorer sport is overheating....
over thanksgiving he ran into a tree head on, pretty hard bent a manik brushguard in half messed up the bumper the grill and hood. he hasnt drivin it since because he was away at school. He drove it the other day and it is overheated. i have looked at the radiator and it doesnt apear to be damaged, also the upper hose going out of the radiator was hot when i felt it. what could be wrong with it?? My first though was the radiator was damaged then maybe thermastate was busted. I am stumped

 

[Jason_25]

Well, of course look to see if, in fact, there is coolant in the radiator. Inspect the fan blades also. If none of that works, see if something may have collided with the outside of the water pump to keep it from pumping.

 

[jeffseal]

fan works and there is colant in the radiator, i am going to go check the water pump now.

 

[jeffseal]

didnt see anything wrong with the water pump but it is kind of hard to see...

 

[Jason_25]

Hmm alright then. Maybe the t-stat just failed while it was sitting. How many miles on the truck? I'm willing to bet it's that.

 

[jeffseal]

it has less than 30,000 miles on it, and it sat for a long time, he didnt take his car to school so it sat from aug-early nov, when he drove it for a weekend and wrecked it, then it sat till now. If it is the T-stat how hard is it to replace and how much is a new one?

 

[Jason_25]

Its about 3 bucks for a new one. Make sure to get a new gasket when you buy it. Well, the install is easy, all except for removing the three bolts that hold it on. However, it may be a little if it has the SOHC. Just make sure it faces the right direction when you install it.