As far as I know the thermostat is original 106k on the car. The coolant was changed about 2-3 years ago I believe. It sounds like its no easy task to change the thermostat, is there anyway to tell if its going before an outright failure? Also could this cause reduced mpg/power?
thermostat & coolant maintnance
- Thread starter purelux
- Start date
If the heat of the engine starts to fluxuate between normal and high, I'd say your thermostat is about to go. Thats what happened with my 01 explorer before it got stuck and my engine overheated every time.
Rock Strongo
LVC Member
It's been my experience that t-stats pretty much fail suddenly, with little warning. I'm not saying they never give you a warning, but I've never had one personally. Keep in mind that in 20 years I've only had 2 stats fail and one occurred about a week after I bought the car. Also, I generally change the t-stat every 50K, so they don't ever get too old.
At 100K+ I would replace it as well as the hoses. You can use whatever brand of hose you like, but I would recommend a Ford t-stat. I compared the original Ford t-stat from my Ranger to a Stant unit at Advance and the difference was night and day. The Ford t-stat was much beefier in construction and the spring had neary double the numer of coils.
At 100K+ I would replace it as well as the hoses. You can use whatever brand of hose you like, but I would recommend a Ford t-stat. I compared the original Ford t-stat from my Ranger to a Stant unit at Advance and the difference was night and day. The Ford t-stat was much beefier in construction and the spring had neary double the numer of coils.