Will New Water Pump be immediately damaged if Power Steering Pulley is a little tough to rotate?

The dreaded P0128 comes up on many cars these days
Used to crack those t stat housings once in a while
Personally glad the new ones come with a housing (sure buy the better one if you want)
And now that you have to replace them every two years
Better just be nice to the bolts
 
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I don't have a code checker, that sometimes displays invisible codes right? I've never gotten a check engine light. Only light I get every few years is check charging system lol.

Replace what every 2 years? the sensor or the housing? I shouldn't have to replace the aluminum every 2 years right? There is no mention of it including a t-stat with it, description is very basic. Another forum made it seem like it comes with a t-stat though. I already purchased an o-ring for the t-stat and a gates t-stat (I was going to get motorcraft but was trying to combine a bunch of different parts to save on shipping and time, and some of the motorcraft hoses and parts I wanted were at a different warehouse, so I ended up having to switch my whole order to mostly Gates. Ended up saving over $100 though).

I don't want to open new housing yet. I don't have a torque wrench, been just tightening the bolts based on feel and good judgement. So far no leaking from hoses or water pump when I tried to refill, only from the bad housing unit. I originally wanted to run the system without a t-stat to flush again. I guess I will just save the gates t-stat and o-ring and maybe open the new housing up in a year or two to see if there's any debris on it and swap it out for good measure. Maybe then I can afford a torque wrench. I'm going to hardware store to rebuy 2 sets of 3 bolts for the upper and lower portions.

Now where the lower bolts screw in to the bottom in my car, there is some rust. Not sure how to clean that out. I do have some anti-seize that I will apply to the new bolts. Whenever I take apart the housing to replace t-stat, should I just remove the top portion? or should i remove the entire thing again by unscrewing the lower? That way I can make sure I properly re-tighten upper and lower together as evenly as possible. Where is the most likely spot these housings leak from when reinstalling? I did not buy lower gasket/seal, I assume one comes with the new housing and should still good after a year or 2. May buy one just in case in future.
 
Replace every two years
The thermostat
You will either have no heat or the check engine light will be on saying the engine has not reached operating temperature
Flush the rust out using Ford cooling system cleaner
Ok ty, that makes sense. Thought you meant the housing. It's so weird, whenever I look up thermostat replacement for cars on google it is telling me 10 years but they can fail sooner. Pretty vague from google.

Will I need a new lower seal at that time or no? I already have an upper seal, I think it was a Fenpro one I bought to go with the gates t-stat I have as a backup. Or should I only disassemble the upper from the lower? I'm worried that I may not be evenly applying pressure down when I re-assemble because the bolt in the back is so hard to reach. I may have been lazy and not taken some parts in the way off though. Maybe now I have the throttle body off I could better access it.
 
Some cars will go 10 years +
It depends on what car you are talking about
I have never put a thermostat in my 4 runner or Camry
Some are designed better? Better materials? Who knows
Some Mazdas turn on the check engine light every other year Code P0128
No registration until you get it fixed
 
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Haha. In Oklahoma, we don't have smog or safety checks. My old 98 Ranger would never make it, nor would my 04 Lightning. EGR deleted from both. Aftermarket intake and exhaust on both. Ranger has a chip on the ECM, Lightning is tuned. I'm not even sure how the Ranger even runs anymore. Got caught in a heavy rain one fine evening, and it stalled (open hood scoop). It used to have four codes showing full time, and still ran great. After I finally got it running again, all codes are gone, even though the EGR is deleted. O2 sensors are factory stock going on 183,000 miles. Yet it runs like a scalded cat.
 
It is coming to you all eventually
Been dealing with it here Gestapo style since 1984 in Utah
I was among the first class of technician graduates to administer their Bullsheet
Dyno testing in Salt Lake so even a breaking down plug wire under load fails you
Thank god for 4 wheel drive cars (they currently cannot be dyno tested)
 
Got some diluted old coolant on my new Aluminum Thermostat Housing Unit. I tried to wipe off what I could reach but I'm sure some went behind it, maybe some onto the engine block as well. Probably not a whole lot but I can't really see much back there. How worried do I need to be about this coolant corroding my new unit or the top of the engine block?

Also, how important is it that the wire that grounds on top of the engine block have the plastic wraps around it? They disintegrated off and I didn't have anything to wrap around it before putting the new housing unit in. The wire seems pretty solid and sturdy though, it seems to be in perfect condition compared to the plastic thingy that has brittled away. I'm sure it's probably made to be heat resistant since it sits right in the middle of the engine.

Gates upper hose was a little short. Did some minor adjusting and I must have moved it a little. Everything seemed to be holding but the second I hear a few drips and look under the car all hell breaks lose and I have like 5 leaks. It must have been when the tstat opened up. I turned the car off and then had trouble finding where it was leaking. Tried to move my catch pans and got pretty hot coolant all over my arms. Did not expect it to heat up so fast, luckily I didn't have any lasting burns. I saw some videos where people said burp the system with the radiator cap off. My radiator doesn't have a cap so I had my coolant reservoir cap off. It must have started boiling or something or burped out the reservoir because I saw splatter around that area. I also had some leaking where upper hose connected to tstat. I spent a lot of time trying to clean out my engine beforehand and now it's covered again. Some spots on the lower support beams too. Do I need to worry about getting everything off?
 
Sorry missed editing time and didn't get to add a good bit.

Got some diluted old coolant on my new Aluminum Thermostat Housing Unit. I tried to wipe off what I could reach but I'm sure some went behind it, maybe some onto the engine block as well. Probably not a whole lot but I can't really see much back there. How worried do I need to be about this coolant corroding my new Aluminum housing unit or the top of the engine block? It is old contaminated coolant that has been somewhat diluted but is still kind of dirty. I'm in the process of idling the car and draining it until it runs clean.

Also, how important is it that the wire that grounds on top of the engine block have the plastic wraps around it? They disintegrated off and I didn't have anything to wrap around it before putting the new housing unit in. The wire seems pretty solid and sturdy though, it seems to be in perfect condition compared to the plastic thingy that has brittled away. I'm sure it's probably made to be heat resistant since it sits right in the middle of the engine right? This diluted old coolant isn't going to eat through the top of the engine block is it? I mean, I've probably been leaking coolant this whole time on the engine block for a couple months before I knew I had a tstat leak and water pump issue.

Whole thing happened because Gates upper hose was a little short, just barely. Did some minor adjusting and I must have moved it a little trying to stretch it. Everything seemed to be holding but the second I hear a few drips and look under the car all hell breaks lose and I have like 5 leaks. It must have been when the tstat opened up. I turned the car off and then had trouble finding where it was leaking. Tried to move my catch pans and got pretty hot coolant all over my arms. Did not expect it to heat up so fast, luckily I didn't have any lasting burns. I saw some videos where people said burp the system with the radiator cap off. My radiator doesn't have a cap so I had my coolant reservoir cap off. It must have started boiling or something or burped out the reservoir because I saw splatter around that area. I also had some leaking where upper hose connected to tstat. I spent a lot of time trying to clean out my engine beforehand and now it's covered again. Some spots on the lower support beams too. Do I need to worry about trying to wipe everything down? Is there anything I can spray back behind the housing unit when engine is cold and then hope it slowly boils off over time? I don't want to adjust the housing unit since I know it can be tricky and I just finally got it running without leaking. I've been running it with the cap on now just in case it hiccups.
 
Update:

I think may heater core may be clogged? It is relatively new and I'm in the process of flushing old coolant and contaminants out of my car. I will flush the core when I can get to the store to get some supplies. Right now running heat on full blast it comes out ice cold with just water in the system. If I rev the engine some I can feel a slight bit of heat come out. Is it possible I'm just not letting the engine warm up enough for the heat to work? I started getting that coolant smell again when I revved the engine so I backed off a little and shut the car off. I'll drain and refill again for the 20th time and see what happens.
 
Update:

I think may heater core may be clogged? It is relatively new and I'm in the process of flushing old coolant and contaminants out of my car. I will flush the core when I can get to the store to get some supplies. Right now running heat on full blast it comes out ice cold with just water in the system. If I rev the engine some I can feel a slight bit of heat come out. Is it possible I'm just not letting the engine warm up enough for the heat to work? I started getting that coolant smell again when I revved the engine so I backed off a little and shut the car off. I'll drain and refill again for the 20th time and see what happens.
With the antifreeze smell and worrying about the heater core, do you have a drip inside? Is the windshield hazing up?
It’s time to borrow a coolant system pressure checker thing set. The adaptor goes on in place of the radiator cap, or in between the cap and the radiator. Then a hand pump and a gauge pumps up the pressure th the system and with the car still cold, you can see 2. If it holds pressure, and 2. Usually where the leak is.
The chain parts stores usually have a similar kit to check out.
DAYUAN 28pcs Universal Radiator Pressure Tester Kit, coolant Pressure Tester kit coolant Vacuum Refill kit for Cooling System https://a.co/d/hubR8JT

What temp of thermostat did you put back in and how long are your running the car? Is the radiator and upper rad. hose getting hot?
Also, a bubble in the system might prevent the heater core from getting warm.
 
I'm thinking it's a bubble maybe because I just idled it with the cap off again, was sitting in the car and turned the heat on. I thought I felt heat for a split second then I heard a screech and I looked and saw coolant reservoir bubbling everywhere again after I had just tried to clean a lot of the stuff off. The belt is all soaked now and so are the pulleys, I have a new belt I'll put on when everything is finalized and then I can wipe off the pulleys too.

The car has been pressure tested at a shop twice. They said it is holding pressure fine, I asked them to test it under load and hot, not sure if they were running heat or not when they did the test again or not, but they said it was holding pressure fine and nothing was out of the ordinary. This shop has been reliable for me and they also did the heater core replacement, so I'm trusting that they know what they were doing. I'm thinking the new heater core is partially clogged or fully clogged, and then maybe a bubble as well. Would a bubble in the core ruin the heater core? If so I may quit trying to run the heat until I can go to the store and get a water balloon nipple. Or would the bubble quickly wash out once I turned the heat on? I don't want a partial clog to create a vacuum or something and createa a bubble scenario and ruin the core if that's a possibility.

There is no drip inside or haze. I did not test the tstat since it came with the SKP aluminum thermostat housing unit and I did not want to open it up. I'm assuming it's the 192 or 195 stock temp setting though. I've tried searching, saw the post at one point but can't remember the answer. I think the person who actually boiled it said it was stock though. Just now I ran the car about 5-8 mins before the bubbllng out of the reservoir happened. Usually I had been trying to idle it for close to 20 mins. Should I not be running the heat until I can visually see that the heater core is flushing clear? I don't want to damage it by doing 10 to 20 idles and ruin it. It seems every time I idle and drain it is draining just as dirty.
 
I'm thinking it's a bubble maybe because I just idled it with the cap off again, was sitting in the car and turned the heat on. I thought I felt heat for a split second then I heard a screech and I looked and saw coolant reservoir bubbling everywhere again after I had just tried to clean a lot of the stuff off. The belt is all soaked now and so are the pulleys, I have a new belt I'll put on when everything is finalized and then I can wipe off the pulleys too.

The car has been pressure tested at a shop twice. They said it is holding pressure fine, I asked them to test it under load and hot, not sure if they were running heat or not when they did the test again or not, but they said it was holding pressure fine and nothing was out of the ordinary. This shop has been reliable for me and they also did the heater core replacement, so I'm trusting that they know what they were doing. I'm thinking the new heater core is partially clogged or fully clogged, and then maybe a bubble as well. Would a bubble in the core ruin the heater core? If so I may quit trying to run the heat until I can go to the store and get a water balloon nipple. Or would the bubble quickly wash out once I turned the heat on? I don't want a partial clog to create a vacuum or something and createa a bubble scenario and ruin the core if that's a possibility.

There is no drip inside or haze. I did not test the tstat since it came with the SKP aluminum thermostat housing unit and I did not want to open it up. I'm assuming it's the 192 or 195 stock temp setting though. I've tried searching, saw the post at one point but can't remember the answer. I think the person who actually boiled it said it was stock though. Just now I ran the car about 5-8 mins before the bubbllng out of the reservoir happened. Usually I had been trying to idle it for close to 20 mins. Should I not be running the heat until I can visually see that the heater core is flushing clear? I don't want to damage it by doing 10 to 20 idles and ruin it. It seems every time I idle and drain it is draining just as dirty. The hoses were getting hot I know for sure at one point, but I havent checked them recently.
 
Ok ty. I idled it then when it started to boil I put the cap back on and shut the car off, then quickly took the cap back off and watched it. I also squeezed the hoses some with some thicker gloves and a towel. I topped it off then started the car back up after 10ish mins and then turned the heat on. I had slight coolant smell for a moment before the heat finally started to come through. I gave it some rpm and idled the car for 15 to 20 mins with the cap on so that it didn't boil over and make a mess.

The car is in a garage kind of deep, I got the garage door obviously but I still feel like I'm getting loopy being out there. Not sure if this is because of carbon monoxide or antifreeze fumes burning off. This is like the 3rd time I've noticed the loopy effects. I sure hope I'm not having exhaust gases in my coolant reservoir and that it's just from the car sitting deep in the garage.
 
When I tried to get heat again it wasn't really coming out. It was cold like the first time, and the heat only started to come out when I gave it some rpm. Also I'm almost positive there is a very slight hazy or smokey thing going on when I'm giving the car some rpm in the garage. I do have a small oil pan leak so I'm thinking it may just be some oil burning off, but I definitely feel a little funny standing by the front of the car. Maybe the car is too deep in the garage and not enough exhaust is getting out and that's what's causing the haze? Or do you think it could be something else burning off? I can't really describe the smell, it doesn't smell like coolant I don't think, which makes me think it's carbon monoxide because it's not a super noticeable smell.

I'll drain and refill and then try again tomorrow, hopefully I'll feel that the car can take a short drive without popping a leak.
 
Just for chits and grinns take the radiator cap off it cold and start the car
The coolant should be just sitting there in the radiator if you look
If it is swirling or circulating your thermostat is open when it should not be
If it comes shooting out of the radiator like Old Faithful you got trouble (head gaskets)
Good luck
 
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Just for chits and grinns take the radiator cap off it cold and start the car
The coolant should be just sitting there in the radiator if you look
If it is swirling or circulating your thermostat is open when it should not be
If it comes shooting out of the radiator like Old Faithful you got trouble (head gaskets)
Good luck
How big of a geyser is bothersome? I know when burping the system the level does go up and down some, and under higher rpm it did burp out a good bit but it looked more like boiling water, although there was some small geyser like action, nothing shooting up high though. Only an inch or 2 it was spilling over, but this seems to line up with other videos I've seen where they put the funnel on top to burp. When I start the car with the cap off everything is fine. Only after a little the pressure starts to rise and I see some bubbles working their way out, and then if I stop the car after running it for 15 to 20 mins the level goes down and I have to top it off.

I am worried about the head gasket thing, although my oil is perfectly clean, my coolant isn't showing contamination of oil (even though it does look like pea soup, it also looks like the 100k mile coolant or the orange coolant that has gone bad for too many years. If I leave the coolant in the drain pan there is no oil separation or shimmer. I'm hoping it's just way too much sludge built up. Looking at the top of the intake manifold I did notice a small gap on the middle section. I took 2 pics to try and get a close up of the gap. I'm hoping it's just a little warped at the edge and the seal inside is still good. (Pics are at the bottom).

Flushing the system with water is also takin forever. It seems that every time I run the car and drain it's just as murky, which has me wondering if there is some gas contamination. I don't want to buy a tester kit just yet because atm I'm broke and I got just enough to fix this doing the work myself then I need to find work again with hopefully reliable transportation. I'm also convinced it could be just sludge working it's way out. Sometimes when I look into the coolant reservoir I can see the sludge come out like a snake from the bottom before it mixes with the water and becomes murky. Not every time though.

I wanted to do water flushes until it ran 95% clear, and then I wanted to do a cleaner, but these flushes are taking forever I'm thinking I need to put a heavier cleaner in it now, but don't want to waste my money on the cleaner unnecessarily either. I've heard mixed reviews about using some vinegar. I would probably just put a couple cups in to play it safe, drive it for 20 mins then drain, then continue back to water flushes. Any advice? Is it time for a prestone cleaner to run in it for a bit?
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