PLEASE HELP WITH COOLANT bubbling out of reservoir tank

[eric]

Hello ,

I have a 2001 ford ranger 2.3 liter 5 speed. 147k miles. Had t-stat put in 1 year ago. Engine coolant bubbles when truck is shut off from underneath reservoir cap. I had a new radiator and reservoir tank put in last week and both were leaking.

Yesterday, mechanic tested my t-stat. He heated it up and said it opened fine but used a heater and that may have been too much heat (dont know what he used). But said head gasket is not cracked as oil is not in reservoir tank nor is coolant in oil. he is convinced the tstat stays closed when truck is off and thus causing the puke tank to bubble out. I get heat fine and it heats up right away. I did notice after whatever he did yestrday my gas mileage going down.

Does this sound like a need a new t-stat? And if so why do we have to but the housing as well, cant FORD just sell a t-stat and reuse housing?

Thanks

 

[jimmyess333]

It's possible the housing is part of the thermostat on that model.
As for the coolant boiling I'd check the antifreeze with a tester to see if it's freeze/boiling points look good.
If the mixture is off too far either way it can cause problems in the cooling system.

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

sounds like a bad radiator cap. don't worry about the t-stat being open when the truck is off. just that coolant is flowing through the radiator when the engine is hot.

how about the cooling fan? is that working ok?

warms up right away? i bet your mechanic didn't check if there is exhaust gases being pushed into the cooling system. you can have a blown head gasket that doesn't get oil into the coolant. or coolant into the oil

 

[Duane867]

/\

All to often I hear people spouting " thats not a blown head gasket there is no oil, or water mixing". Yet they will NOT do a compression/leak down test ? LOL !


With the loss of power here and recent cooling problems I would guess head gasket.....

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

yep, i see that all the time

 

[till1422]

i have the same issue on my 2000 ranger 3.0 and did the compression test and it all checked out fine.

 

[Tractorman86]

Did you do a compression test or a leak down test? there is a difference

 

[modelageek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdoIkd1ivOQ

http://blockchek.com/instructions.htm

 

[chilsam]

Thermostate

some have a BLEED hole in them is mounted in the right "O'CLOCK" position?

 

[chetvaldes]

Definitely do a combustion leak test and make sure the pressure cap is holding pressure, then go from there. I've had mysterious boil-overs (usually at higher altitudes of course) that were due to a defective pressure cap. And any time you see bubbles in the expansion tank, you need to a rule out combustion leak. Both are so easy to do, but often overlooked.