PLEASEE HELP! Overheating

[mxridacody26]

MY 1995 ford explorer xlt v6 is overheating and running help.
I checked oil and coolant both are fine. my radiator has a very small leak but i fell it about every month. When i start my car up in the morning everything is fine until the car has been going for about 10min and starts to warm up. The cover NEVER runs with the heat right in the middle. Most of the time it runs at about 3/4ths on the gauge. About every 30min of driving the car will overheat. Tje dash says check gauge but the motor doesnt do anything differently. I always pull over cause i dont want to blow it to shreads. So when i pull over and turn the car off ill wait for like 4 min and then start the car again it drops to about 1/2 but once i start driving again it goes back to 3/4ths or higher.

Im not sure if its the termastat or the gauge or both or neither?! Are there tests or something i can do?
Im not sure whats wrong.
if i left something out just ask and ill tell you what happens.
Im out of money and really need some help.
Thank you

 

[sean99]

Sounds like a thermostat...http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289239&highlight=change+thermostat

 

[luckyfrye]

couple things to check and do 1) wrap the the cat and exhaust going by the transmission in header wrap. Tranny soaks up heat from it and find at local auto parts store, because the tranny cooler is inside the radiator. also if you dont have one installed already get a secondary aftermarket cooler. also good idea to check fluid too. 2)fan clutch assembly check to see if it works ( have buddy rev the motor after 5 min idle to heat up some keep your freakin hands away from the fan!!!!! (rather involved repair suggest you scrap it and go electric. 3) clean the radiator with a plastic brush and i repeat plastic brush if not and go with a standard wire brush you risk scraping all the nice anti corrosion coating off and or putting a hole in it bad ju ju if you do. A prestone back flush kit will also solve heating cooling issue if the radiator is all goobered up inside from rust deposits. Check the heater valve next to the a/c pack and be careful they are made of crap plastic and have Murphy's law on their side and crumble in your hand, i made my own out plumbing parts from the hardware store. Basic safety when doing this remember burns hurt and don't heal up well let the truck cool off for at least a half hour.

 

[bullrush]

I woul also check the thermostat, my 1993 seemed to overheat on really hot days (it wasn't the thermostat) but i figured out that it was when i was running the air con, after running the ac for a while the gauge would go up, as soon as i switched the ac off the heat returns to normal! I'm not the biggest fan of ac anyway, prefer the wind in my face, If you are running your ac, try switch it off and see if it makes a difference...

 

[bullrush]

you could also add in an extra aftermarket fan, my truck has one, seems to help, especially when towing...I towed my friends 94 ex for over 250 km/155miles home after he broke down, Towed him through african bush, potholed roads and then on the freeway (going at an average of 120km/h (74m/h)) and she didn't over heat once!!! (ac off obviously)

 

[GETMYBELTSON]

you could also add in an extra aftermarket fan, my truck has one, seems to help, especially when towing...I towed my friends 94 ex for over 250 km/155miles home after he broke down, Towed him through african bush, potholed roads and then on the freeway (going at an average of 120km/h (74m/h)) and she didn't over heat once!!! (ac off obviously)

The solution to a stock overheating problem is not to add more fans, that is just covering up the problem and not actually fixing anything.

Guarantee its the thermostat. The reason it never runs at 1/2 temp is because thats when the thermostat is supposed to open. It doesn't, so the coolant never reaches the radiator and continues to heat up as you push your engine.

 

[my98nnj]

my radiator has a very small leak

Find and FIX the coolant loss issue first.

The solution to a stock overheating problem is not to add more fans, that is just covering up the problem and not actually fixing anything.

Couldn't agree more.

Guarantee its the thermostat.

Thermostats by design should fail by opening to soon causing a cold engine temp condition. If it's installed correctly, the T-stat should open in the direction of the flow, not against it. As the spring get weak, it's forced open to soon.

Most overheating conditions are not t-stat related.

 

[mxridacody26]

Thank you.
im going to replace the termastat and see if that helps

 

[GETMYBELTSON]

Find and FIX the coolant loss issue first.



Couldn't agree more.



Thermostats by design should fail by opening to soon causing a cold engine temp condition. If it's installed correctly, the T-stat should open in the direction of the flow, not against it. As the spring get weak, it's forced open to soon.

Most overheating conditions are not t-stat related.

They can get jammed or stuck closed though. Don't forget he said he has a small radiator leak... which leads me to assume he may have added stop leak at one time which can help gunk up and jam a thermostat.

 

[iwannabamedic]

Yes thermostats cause weird things, also try to burp the system