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Thermostat/housing replacement - how complicated?

Lou3

CEG'er
Joined
Apr 13, 2006
Messages
158
My mechanic just told me my thermostat isn't working correctly and the housing is leaking. Is the thermostat in a place that's hard to reach? Is there anything else that would make the job a PITA?

Update: I see the coolant needs to be drained, which is all I needed to know. Thanks anyway.
 
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I can do it in two minutes (and that's one handed in the dark).

You don't need to drain the coolant if you don't mind making a mess!
 
Yeah it's not an involved job...on a 2.5L at least. The thermo assembly is under the battery. Draining the coolant is recommended and a good excuse to flush your system.
 
the thermostat housing it mounted to the front right corner of the head if you are standing in front of the vehicle. You would need to drain the coolant, disconnect the sensors and hoses to the shousing and I believe its three or four bolts to remove it.
 
No need to disconnect anything except the three bolts. A pint or two of coolant will spill out if you didn't drain it.
 
there are three bolts to hold the thermostat housing to the thermostat extension. there are alos three bolts that hold the extension to the cylinder head. the whole job is easy but usually if they leak its at the gasket from the extension to the cylidner head. if that's the case, make sure you get that gasket from ford. i would get the thermostat as well from ford and there is a o ring style gasket that fits around the thermostat and seals between the housing and the extension. if your in doubt, do both and as it is an easy job all the way around.
 
so right now I am replacing my thermostat housing and thermostat. When I took off the housing I noticed that gasket material just was peeling off towards the mating surface. I pulled the thermostat out and there was a nice rubber o-ring gasket around it, so I know it wasn't that. Is there a gasket for the housing? The reason why I ask this is because I have some pictures below showing these two different style gaskets, and I'm not sure if I should use both, or one or the other.

http://www.danbertmedia.com/Contour/images/thermostat_woring1.jpg
(thermostat with the o-ring I thought it should have on it)

http://www.danbertmedia.com/Contour/images/thermostat_woring2.0.jpg (just the weird o-ring alone)

http://www.danbertmedia.com/Contour/images/thermostat_woring2.jpg (I now switched to this thermostat o-ring gasket)

http://www.danbertmedia.com/Contour/images/thermostat_woring2.1.jpg (this is the other side of it, just clarifying that I put it on the right way. Not even sure if this is the right gasket though :) )

and just for reference this is the housing
http://www.danbertmedia.com/Contour/images/thermostat_housing.jpg
 
as mentiones it's easy to change. better do it soon, otherwise may not only leak, but get stucked and interrupt water flow. Mine did and blew the uper water hose :(
 
right, the question is though, what gasket should I be using? I ended up getting antsy and used the first one (the one I thought I should use) it's just a normal o-ring. I used that and that's all. The other one didn't fit in at all. I tightened the housing on really nice and I'm good to go. (hopefully)
 
In a pinch RTV will work for that application as well. I'm a Toyota mechanic and some Toyotas have plastic water outlets that bolt to the cylinder head, and the factory calls for sealant instead of a gasket. Never seen one leak yet.

Did you have that thing off to get the PCV pipe?
 
no, actually I pulled it off to replace the housing because it was leaking. After pulling out the old housing I realized there was nothing really wrong with it. I should have just torqued it down more. I put the new one on anyways because it's new and torqued it quite a bit. No sealant or anything. No leaks though, so I'm happy. Although the car seems to run a bit hotter with the new thermostat. The indicator is at the beginning of the "A" in Normal. Is that normal? :)
 
I had just replaced my thermostat and the 2 sensors in the thermostat housing this past weekend because my coolant temperature gauge was not working. It would never move past cold. Also, I was not getting any heat from the vents when the heater blower was on. Anyways, I replaced the thermostat and the 2 sensors and everything works now. I do experience my Contour running hotter than normal as well. My coolant temperature gauge goes to the same place that you describe. I can only assume that this is normal unless someone else here says different.
 
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