Thermostat help please

99LEGT · Aug 5, 2004

I'm wondering if somebody could shed some light on this issue I'm having with my 99 4.6, I recently noticed coolant leaking between the cast iron elbow and the black plastic housing for the thermostat, Last night I went to pepboys and they provided my with two gaskets, one fiber with bolt hole cut outs and another ring gasket, I removed the elbow and switched out the thermostat and ring gasket with the new parts but I couldn't figue out where the other gasket went , it didn't really match up and their was not original gasket to scrape off when i removed the elbow. Today I noticed I'm still leaking, Is it possible I have no use for the paper gasket and is it possible to crack this plastic housing that holds the thermostat inplace?

billyfe390 · Aug 5, 2004

There is only a rubber o-ring that seals it.

99LEGT · Aug 5, 2004

t-stat housing

Is it possible the t-stat housing is bad, I read that they melt after time? Does the entire intake have to come off to replace this?

billyfe390 · Aug 5, 2004

Sorry about that my internet crashed.

Yes the housing could be cracked and it is just 2 bolts that hold it on. I would have it pressure checked first so you know exactly where the leak is.

stang976 · Aug 5, 2004

yea a pressure test would be helpful, and i would just check the surface of the back of the housing and check for any noticable unven surfaces or anything else that looks fishy

YardSpecial · Aug 5, 2004

time to replace the intake.............

99LEGT · Aug 5, 2004

t-stat housing

OK I think I've narrowed it down to the t-stat housing, Billy Fe- You said the housing is held on by two bolts, where are these bolts I can't locate them. Is the housing also removable without taking out the intake, your not talking about the two long bolts I removed to seperate the elbow from the housing are you? I noticed my powertrain waranty covers craked intake's and bad t-stat housing but I have a $100 deductable....what should I do????

billyfe390 · Aug 5, 2004

99LEGT said:
OK I think I've narrowed it down to the t-stat housing, Billy Fe- You said the housing is held on by two bolts, where are these bolts I can't locate them. Is the housing also removable without taking out the intake, your not talking about the two long bolts I removed to seperate the elbow from the housing are you? I noticed my powertrain waranty covers craked intake's and bad t-stat housing but I have a $100 deductable....what should I do????

Well define the tstat housing. I define it as the elbow that the upper radiator hose connects to. If you are talking about the piece that the stat actually sits down into then its either replace the entire intake if it is plastic or replace the crossover if it is aluminum.

GDawg · Aug 5, 2004

See my reply to you in the other thread about the coolant light (click here)...

But in a nutshell... If you have the intake with the plastic coolant crossover (thermostat attached to a plastic housing), which I believe you do then you have the infamous "cracked intake". Good thing your warrenty will cover it being replaced because the recall did not cover you (as well as me) and to have Ford replace it, it could run anywhere from $650.00 to $900.00.

99SilverGT · Aug 5, 2004

I've been wrestling with my POS for over a month now and have been unable to get it to stop leaking. I've had it apart literally 15-20 times (yes I drained the cooland EVERY TIME) trying different things. I know the Service Manager personally at the dealership here and had him check to see if the 99-00 intake (not changed to metal until 01) was covered and he couldn't find anything that said it was... I've got nearly 75k miles on my car so that basically leaves me SOL. I can see nothing wrong with the intake, but if I don't put a hand-made paper gasket and loads of black gasket maker all over it when I put it together it leaks extremely bad. It will make the low coolant light come on after driving 10 miles... For that matter... it is now leaking almost that bad WITH the gasket and gasket maker...!!!!

I'm really in disbelief at how crappy this thermostat housing was designed... Way to go Ford!

GDawg · Aug 5, 2004

99SilverGT said:
I've been wrestling with my POS for over a month now and have been unable to get it to stop leaking. I've had it apart literally 15-20 times (yes I drained the cooland EVERY TIME) trying different things. I know the Service Manager personally at the dealership here and had him check to see if the 99-00 intake (not changed to metal until 01) was covered and he couldn't find anything that said it was... I've got nearly 75k miles on my car so that basically leaves me SOL. I can see nothing wrong with the intake, but if I don't put a hand-made paper gasket and loads of black gasket maker all over it when I put it together it leaks extremely bad. It will make the low coolant light come on after driving 10 miles... For that matter... it is now leaking almost that bad WITH the gasket and gasket maker...!!!!

I'm really in disbelief at how crappy this thermostat housing was designed... Way to go Ford!

'96 and '97 were covered. For some reason '98, '99 and '00 were not covered eventhough we have (had) the same intake. I had a hard time finding my leak until I put surveillance on it's ass... I put my camera in video mode in front of my engine and then ran the hell out of it (standing still of course). Once I hit ~3,300 rpms a noticable spray of coolant came squirting out of a pin hole.

As a matter of fact, you can look at my Webshots Photos (click here) showing what I went through. I now have the intake with the aluminum coolant crossover. All fixed.

YardSpecial · Aug 5, 2004

Just replace the intake, less hassle that way

99LEGT · Aug 9, 2004

problem found

Just to follow up my problem was a cracked t-stat housing, The extended powercare waranty my dealer sold me last year has come in handy now a few times! Does anybody think they will replace this manifold with another unit that has the plastic housing, the dealer said they disperse heat better but melt after time.

YardSpecial · Aug 9, 2004

Lets try this again, Ford had to replace thousands of those dam intakes duee to cracking..........

I saw huindreds of NEW intakes with metal section instead of plastic at the parts dept i worked at.

Here is what I dug up on the web...

Evidently these manifolds crack, and they crack a lot. They fail so often that Ford issued a recall (Technical Service Bulletin Number 01M02) on certain 1996 – 2001 Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, certain 1996 – 2001 Crown Victoria Taxis, certain 1996 – 2001 Lincoln Town Car Limousine and Livery Vehicles with 4.6L SOHC engines. I also learned online that they recalled the intake manifold on the Thunderbird and Mercury Cougars built in 1997 also.

Thermostat help please

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