Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting thermostat

How difficult is it to replace the thermostat on the ztec engine?

My car runs slightly hotter than I think it should...Somewhere between "M" and "A" on "NORMAL" but mostly "M". I am thinking of replacing thermostat and wondering if it is a DIY job. I would rather replace it sooner than wait till problem gets worse. If anyone has done this job before..Would appreciate comments. Thanks.

Very easy to do.
Remove 3 bolts from front of housing and the front will come right off, and the t-stat is right there.
Buy a haynes manul and it will give a good detailed description with pics.
Zetecs run hot and the temp gauge isn't very accurate,
as long as your not in the red above normal you're alright.
Change to a cooler (180 degree t-stat), change coolant, and add water wetter to coolant, and you'll be nice and cool.

Real easy to do. A lotta coolant will come out but you just fill back up with water/antifreeze, or in my case just water. I don't like our stock temp gauges at all, they're fairly accurate but very slow to respond. Like when mine is at at 0 it's usually ~170 degrees, but if it's getting hotter it takes it a while to move up and then a while for it to move back down once the temp has dropped.

I'm using non motorcraft thermostat and it works fine. I think every zetec owner (atleast in the summer, but should be OK in most winter places) should get a 180 degree thermostat, it can be had at autozone,etc.

Anyone with first hand experience as to what, if anything changes with the fuel mixture when a 180 t'stat is used in a 2.0? I don't have access to an emissions analyzer; not sure if I would see much change if I did, as the ECM may adjust fuel/air ratio at this new temp and prevent any "downwind" emissions change (or very little). This has been reported by a number of enthusiasts that have made these very changes (t'stat swap out)in my other facination ride -- VW GTI's.
In these VW's, the enrichened fuel mixture produced negative results when too low of a coolant temp resulted due to either very low temp t'stat or a stuck open t'stat. Your mileage may vary. Bill

It won't affect you negatively in any way unless you're in some seriously cold temperatures.

Your post was successful as I do have a zetec with a 180 thermostat. Only thing is you live in a lot colder place than I do, but hector that lives in chicago said his is fine with the 180, and I wouldn't be suprised if his car always runs cooler than mine (for a variety of reasons). I've had ZERO adverse affects from mine.