2002 2.3L overheating

[DieselDude]

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[Soledad]

Wow! Good catch on the thermostat.

And that cooling system is definitely in major need of a good clean and flush.
How many miles are on the engine?

 

[RonD]

Nice pics

Coolant color is not universal.

So you do have to look at the label

Silicates are 2 year change intervals, usually Green
OAT(organic acid) are 5 year, usually Red
HOAT(hybrid organic acid) are 5 year but often said to be lifetime, usually Gold

But the fact of the matter is that cooling systems will leak, fittings, thermostats and water pumps will fail, so lifetime isn't for the car or engine, it's for the cooling system, lol.
I drive older cars/trucks, so run 2 year coolant because I know I will have something fail and have to drain or get new coolant, I am cheap
If I get 2 years then don't mind paying the $10-$15 for some new 2 year

Now if you are switching "colors" I would refill with distilled water not coolant, and run the vehicle a few weeks that way, then flush and refill with your choice of coolant, no anti-freeze protection with water only, so heads up!!!.
I often do this water refill after doing any engine work that required any parts of the cooling system to be disassembled
Like I said I am cheap and if there is a leak I want to lose water not coolant, lol.

 

[DieselDude]

Yeah my first thought was probably was the thermostat. It was originally my uncles truck, he bought it back in '05 I believe, drove it to right around 140k, then gave it to his son as he needed a vehicle when he got out of the guards. My cousin is pretty well known for being lax about maintenence so I doubt he did anything other than changing the heater core. The vehicle now has 180k on it. I bought it from him for 100 bucks and it had been sitting in the field for two years rusting away. Figured if I put in 1000 bucks and got 30k out if it I'd be happy.

 

[DieselDude]

So I have to ask... whats everybody been doing to clean out the cooling system? Or would just running distilled water for a few weeks do the trick well enough? Also, has anybody used or heard of people using these thermostats? Look the same, just without the electrical part. Open at 180 degrees so I think that would be about right. Here's a link to advance auto
https://m.advanceautoparts.com/h5/r/shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/carquest-caps-and-stats-thermostat-including-housing-180-degrees-fahrenheit-48708/20480005-P

 

[Soledad]

I am. And I got the idea from user riscorpian from over on the fordrangerforum.com forum.

If this is going to be a daily driver I would not use the non-heater version. If the truck is to be emission tested yearly I also wouldn't do it. But if it's just a weekend vehicle and won't be smogged, the non-electric thermostat has proven to work quite well. I use the Ford Motorcraft 190* version. I left my electric thermostat still plugged in though so as not to set a CEL. But, I have a 1500ohm 25watt chassis mount resistor ready to take the place of the electric thermostat once I actually have some free time from the family.

 

[DieselDude]

Ahhh okay good to know. No I'm just using it 1. As a spare vehicle if the Fusion doesn't start 2. Just so I have a vehicle with a bed for moving stuff around and 3. For my duck boat and ice house when it hits fall again. Where did you find a motorcraft version? I'll eventually replace it with the stock thermostat but I want to put that money towards the suspension parts first.

 

[Soledad]

I bought the 190* Motorcraft thermostat off rockauto.com
On rockauto I used a 2006 Ford Ranger 2.3