Therostats and blown head gaskets

[Pedaler8090]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie here with a situation i don't understand and wonder if anyone can give me some input from possible similar situations.

My '97 XLT, 4.0L that I bought used Feb. 2001 overheated in August 2001. Went to Ford dealership and they replaced failed thermostat. Ran fine untill
Feb. 2002 when it overheated again, returned to dealership and they replaced thermostat again.
There was no charge for second thermostat, under
warranty. Well......Guess what......It just overheated again, I returned to dealership again and thermostat
needs replacing again and I have blown head gaskets.

Is there a problem here with thermostats?? or is something else causing themostats to fail?

Thanks,
Great Forum

 

[410Fortune]

Sounds to me like you are in need of more then just a thermostat, they do go out but not that often!

I would also look for a new waterpump, check the fan and clutch, and flush the cooling system. Sounds like somethng is clogging the thermostat.

Also if a head gasket is gone, you had better have those heads checked for cracks.......

Any loss of coolant when driving?

 

[Pedaler8090]

Thanks for the input........

Nope, never had problems with loss of coolant.

 

[Science Guy]

You should check the fan clutch for any leaking or accumulation of dirt. The best way to tell is if it really only gets hot when you are driving slow.

 

[Pedaler8090]

The only time I noticed any temperature fluctuation was when first replacement thermostat started to fail, the temperature would rise to HOT at first couple miles of running then drop back down to normal and run great
untill next cold start-up.
Latest thermostat ran consistant normal temp with no
fluctuation. Had spike to HOT after 2-3 miles of operation.

Thanks again,