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Running cold all the time

steph8

Member
Joined
January 3, 2006
Messages
28
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0
City, State
Montreal, Canada
Year, Model & Trim Level
99 XLT 4dr 4wd
Since I have purchased my explorer (99 4.0L-OHV) I have notice that the temperature gauge was always on the cold side. It never reached the mid point (btw hot and Cold. I thought that it was normal for truck since they are design to carry heavy loads and I am always running unloaded.

Recently the weather was cold and very humid (-10C and 80% humidity) and now the temperature gauge is not getting above the cold line. Obviously, there is not a lot of heat coming inside the cabin. My heater is running full fan full heat and there is barely enough heat to be warm inside the truck.

What could be the problem?
Should I change my thermostat, I just change my coolant 5000km ago?
Should I block the airflow to the radiator?

Steph,
 



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I had same issue, replaced thermostat now I'm good to go, was going to replace temp sensor sender unit too but napa gave me the wrong one, luckily it was just the thermostat, fairly easy fix just dont' forget to buy more antifreeze while you're at the parts store. now I just have to fix the stupid blend door
 






T-stat! If it's stuck open all the time, you'll never get heat, and it will always read low. Better stuck open, than stuck closed though...
 






rgoers said:
T-stat! If it's stuck open all the time, you'll never get heat, and it will always read low. Better stuck open, than stuck closed though...
That's exactly right. The t-stat has failed in the open position. If it were to fail closed it would fry your engine in short order, so the majority ( but not all) are designed to fail in a wide open position.
 






if you want to make sure it's the thermestat - boil some water and put the therm. in it and it should open....pull it out and it should close. Sounds like a thermostat problem to me.

-Drew
 






yea sounds like it to me too. Of course, when my t-stat went, she stuck closed. Thankfully once the temp would get really really high, it would pop open, and then the temp would go down to normal, and repeat the whole process. But yes, it is a very easy fix, only took maybe 10 minutes, and thats counting the time I waited for it to cool down a bit. Makes a pretty good mess too.
 






same problem with mine, change the t-stat and the gauge now reads in the middle and the heat works almost too well now.
 






I would recommend a Stant thermostat over the stock Motorcraft brand. It seems for some reason, that the (German made) Motorcrafts fail at a high rate.

My original Motorcraft stuck open at only 40K miles.
 






Runnin'OnEmpty said:
I would recommend a Stant thermostat over the stock Motorcraft brand. It seems for some reason, that the (German made) Motorcrafts fail at a high rate.

My original Motorcraft stuck open at only 40K miles.

Just replaced mine, my engine didnt even warm up on a 70 degree day :p

But as for them not being as reliable. that little 5$ part lasted up to 140k miles. So... luck of the draw. My part store only had one brand, so thats the one I had to choose. Wasnt stant or motorcraft :/
 






Thanks. I will have it change at my mechanic. I do not have a garage and it is too cold now to do it myself. FYI my explorer has 80k miles. :)
 






Problem solved it was the thermostat. Thanks
 






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