thermostat fell apart

[jjue]

For quite a while I noticed that my coolant temperature has been really low. In fact, it's been so low that that with the cooler weather that my needle never gets near the normal zone, and a closed loop code pops up due to low tempeature. At first, I thought that it was the temperature sensor since that's what I found on the forum to be the problem, but it's not the case this time. I was shocked to see that my thermostat had fallen apart. The one on the left is a new, working model that I just installed, and the pieces on the left is what I found. I figured that some people might be curious. I figured that I was going to replace it since I thought that it stuck open and the coolant flush didn't help it.

 

[etc]

Wow. Everything is there right? Nothing got left behind?

 

[410Fortune]

hahahaha That sucks!

That third bolt sure is fun to get too isnt it?


That would be great for power, bad for mileage, and just plain shi&&Y for winter time......

Glad you found the problem I would flush the system, hopefully no little metal pieces are stuck in there anywhere.........

 

[jjue]

Actually, the 302 doesn't have a 3rd bolt. Yeah, I did flush the coolant system 2 weeks ago since I thought that some gunk was keeping the thermostat stuck open. Also, I noticed that it did take the vehicle a while to heat up, but it didn't take long this evening. To be honest, this engine with this tree hugging computer doesn't make more horsepower when the engine is cooler. One time at the track, I let the engine cool and ran 3 passes in a row, and the vehicle was quicker in the 1/4-mile on the 3rd pass of the hot lap session. That night I ran 7 passes, and that particular 3rd pass was the 6th pass out of 7.