Different kind of heating thread

SeaPro

SeaPro

Active LVC Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2014
Messages
194
Reaction score
13
Location
Nova Scotia
2003 ls v8

The thermostat went about 6 months ago, I changed out the tstat and housing. Car ran fine. I noticed a small leak afterward which turned out to be one of the bolts holding the housing to the block not tight. It must have crossthreaded because when I tried to tighten it it snapped in the block. No big deal, minor leak which I topped up daily and bleed as needed. The car ran fine ( just didn't have enough time to repair it). Anyway, It was going strong for a few weeks no issues at all until the other night. The car was at idle for about 20 minutes no problem then when I went to take off I gave it a little extra gas and immediately lost power steering, the thermostat shot up. I pulled over before it went into limp mode. I checked the coolant level and upon removing the degas bottle cap (slowly) it boiled out (never did this before). Since then it's been idling fine until I rev it up, anything over 1500 for about a minute and it will overheat and boil.

There is no white smoke in the exhaust and no coolant in the oil, I'll test compressing but am confident it's not the head gasket. I flushed the radiator 3 months ago and it showed nonsigbs of blockage. The electric rad fan works fine. The only thing I can think of is the original leak in the tstat housing, however it only leaked at high RPM and at idle there is no leaking coolant.

After this i lost heat at idle. I messed with bleeding it today and playing with the heat control, turning it on and off and with a few high revs I finally got heat to come out of it.
I'm thinking it may just have been air in the system, but I couldn't get any air to bleed out when it crapped out on me the other night. Possibly the tstat gone bad already (literally several months old).

I've been botching the coolant ratio, on occasion adding concentrate then water, would that mess it up? Temperatures have been positive lately and it would have only been half a liter at a time of either (usually offset them just too busy / complacent).

I'm going to remove the tstat housing and drill out the bolt but other than that can anybody think of another problem that could cause this? It's just odd I got by until now with the minor leak, there are no obvious signs of damage anywhere.

Thank you in advance,
Sean
 
Last edited:
So, did you replace with the factory cross-over, thermostat and thermostat housing? Or did you use the aftermarket part that comes as all three already together? (People have had problems with the aftermarket part, it does allow as much coolant flow.)

Your leak is likely letting air get sucked in every time the engine cools down.

Do I need to point out that the water outlet tube, the degas bottle, and the upper radiator hose need to be replaced too (at a minimum). You should also check the DCCV, aux pump, lower radiator hose and the radiator itself.
 
Thanks joegr, i was hoping youd reply!

I used the doorman all in one (housing gaskets and thermostat) Ford wanted about 3 times the price for OEM. I've replaced all hoses, forgot to mention that.

I'll have to look at the aux pump and dccv. I've got a spare dccv on my v6, I'd imagine they're the same?

How can you test the aux pump, with a meter?

Thanks for the quick reply, very much appreciated!

Sean
 
If you stay with the Dorman, then consider the cost of your cooling fan. If your experience is like the rest, it will be at max speed most of the time, and it won't last that long. It will make up for the money you saved on the cheaper Dorman setup.

In this case, you're only checking for leaks at the aux pump.
 
Update:

So it turned out to be air in the system. Long story short, as everybody here says - everything needs to be replaced. I tried to fight it, but when you change one component - another fails a month later. I didn't want to accept it, but that's how it is. You're gonna pay one way or another.

Just with Motorcraft parts weren't so expensive. Quoted $370 for a degas bottle. $300 for the thermostat and housing, $90 for the coolant pipe from the block and $200 for hoses / pipes. That's more than I paid for the car lol.
 
Crazy money what Ford asks for a plastic bottle, $370. :confused:

SeaPro said:
Update:

So it turned out to be air in the system. Long story short, as everybody here says - everything needs to be replaced. I tried to fight it, but when you change one component - another fails a month later. I didn't want to accept it, but that's how it is. You're gonna pay one way or another.

Just with Motorcraft parts weren't so expensive. Quoted $370 for a degas bottle. $300 for the thermostat and housing, $90 for the coolant pipe from the block and $200 for hoses / pipes. That's more than I paid for the car lol.
Click to expand...
 
LS-jsf said:
$196 is still a lot of money for a plastic bottle. :(
Click to expand...
Yeah well, what are you going to do?
It was a noticeable hit on the wallet when I did the whole shebang on my 06 (including the radiator and DCCV),
but at least I can rest assured that it _should_ be trouble-free in that department for the better part of the next decade.
 
Dreaded Lincoln LS plastic cooling system, simply no fun fact to be found other then open wallet. Least it's a somewhat easy enough DIY job well documented with plenty of others to help

If only they'd believe when replace all is recommended as a must. Most don't plus it's a budget thing for many.

We'll worth the fix though.
 
LS-jsf said:
$196 is still a lot of money for a plastic bottle. :(
Click to expand...

when you see people having to buy 2, 3 or 4 cheap ass dorman bottles over a couple of years because they keep breaking, and a motorcraft will last 10 years/100k+ miles, it really isn't that much at all...
 
My comment didn't refer to the Dorman bottles being a good idea to buy, it was meant as a simple comment that $200 is a lot of $$ for a plastic bottle, that's all.

1LoudLS said:
when you see people having to buy 2, 3 or 4 cheap ass dorman bottles over a couple of years because they keep breaking, and a motorcraft will last 10 years/100k+ miles, it really isn't that much at all...
Click to expand...
 
What are you going to do? Buy the Motorcraft plastic as you did. Again, just making the comment that $200 is an expensive plastic bottle.

WhoBeDaPlaya said:
Yeah well, what are you going to do?
It was a noticeable hit on the wallet when I did the whole shebang on my 06 (including the radiator and DCCV),
but at least I can rest assured that it _should_ be trouble-free in that department for the better part of the next decade.
Click to expand...
 
$200 for a plastic bottle is only a bad price if there are cheaper AND better alternatives...
since there are none, the price is what it is...

If you buy a $40k luxury car (regardless of how much you paid for it) and are expecting parts to be dirt cheap, then you're really going to be disappointed.
 
I don't know why you're having such an issue with my simple comment. $200 for a plastic bottle is not cheap, simple as that.

But as far as trying to justify the expense, from what I can read about the subject, the difference between a Dorman and Motorcraft is the Motorcraft is a thicker plastic, I doubt there is much difference in the actual plastic itself. The Dorman bottle is selling for $50-$60 online. That means Dorman and the retailer are both making a profit at that price. So I guess a little more (thicker) plastic is worth another $150? Since you're ok with "it is what it is' and don't mind getting gouged for a piece of plastic, you have the right to be ok with that, just as I have the right to be pissed they are ripping us off.

As far as owning a $40k luxury car, I've owned Lincolns for about 25 years and my Father before me had them as well. Also, I never said I was expecting parts to be 'dirt cheap,' but I would appreciate a fair price for anything I buy.

I'm just stating my opinion that $200 is a lot for a plastic bottle, simple as that.

1LoudLS said:
$200 for a plastic bottle is only a bad price if there are cheaper AND better alternatives...
since there are none, the price is what it is...

If you buy a $40k luxury car (regardless of how much you paid for it) and are expecting parts to be dirt cheap, then you're really going to be disappointed.
Click to expand...
 
LS-jsf said:
So I guess a little more (thicker) plastic is worth another $150?
Click to expand...

well seeing how the dorman bottle may last may only last a month or so if at all(yes there are probably 2-3 dudes that got lucky and it fixed their problem...), the cheapness of the part doesn't really matter if it doesn't work or last... changing the bottle out is a pain in the ass and if my options were $50 for the dorman, or $300 for the motorcraft I'd spend the extra money just to not ever have to worry about it again.

just because something is made of plastic, doesn't mean it will be cheap. if your that pissed off about the price, you could always make a better one and start selling them to everybody on here (cause lord knows there is no shortage of need) and then make some bank.
 
Again, all I was doing was making a simple point that it is some expensive plastic, which is a fact. I've never disagreed that paying more for the one that holds up vs the less expensive one that doesn't. If that is the case, I will be buying the Motorcraft when needed as well.

It has nothing to do with something being made out of plastic means it should be cheap, I never said nor implied that. My comment was that for a couple of dollars more plastic Ford is gouging us for $150 more, and I don't personally enjoy being what I consider ripped off by anyone, Ford or anyone.

As far as making my own, I would be making them out of metal like the Jaguar ones if that were the case. The company that doesn't make any sense to me is Dorman. For a few dollars more they could make one that holds up like the Motorcraft. (it's probably being made right down the street in China). Dorman's cost goes up a bit, they raise their low retail price up a bit, now everyone such as people on this blog start saying how good their (Dorman) bottle is, they sell many more, we get a less expensive quality bottle and everyone except Ford is happy. And personally I could give a sh*t if Ford is happy.

I've seen other brands of bottles out there, but Dorman's name is the one which always seems to come up being poor quality. So I'm assuming the other brands are all crap also?

1LoudLS said:
well seeing how the dorman bottle may last may only last a month or so if at all(yes there are probably 2-3 dudes that got lucky and it fixed their problem...), the cheapness of the part doesn't really matter if it doesn't work or last... changing the bottle out is a pain in the ass and if my options were $50 for the dorman, or $300 for the motorcraft I'd spend the extra money just to not ever have to worry about it again.

just because something is made of plastic, doesn't mean it will be cheap. if your that pissed off about the price, you could always make a better one and start selling them to everybody on here (cause lord knows there is no shortage of need) and then make some bank.
Click to expand...
 
LS-jsf,

Don't worry about it, Loud1 makes a valid point and so do you. It's a bit on the pricey side when you look at what else is available or when you go shopping for an overflow for a GMC or something. The Dorman is a cheaper alternative it's just not proven to last. Main issue is/was with the thread at the neck and as you mentioned the plastic is slightly thinner. Ignition coils for the LS, same thing, rather pricey but they work. Someone could say the hell with that and get 8 for under 80$ from amazon or fleaBay and they might work for a bit or a while but there's no guarantee. Often we see folks chase misfires continuously on some of those alternatives. Another no name brand even provides a few right out of the box defectives. Get what you pay for. Would be nice if some of these genuine Ford OEM parts were a little more affordable but it then wouldn't be in line with the rest nor near what the vehicle would be brand new.

I for one appreciate your comment, yes it is rather expensive, could be cheaper but not going to happen.

Now think of this ... these LS'es are going on 17 years old ... the time nears we'll all get tired of pumping good honest earned money into these aging vehicles.

They are great cars no doubt. Do I dare refer to them as a POS ? getting pretty close to it. I've put enough $$$ into a few of them and growing tired of it.

Comes a time when enough is enough. Part here, part there ... eventually one begins to look more closely at a more suitable replacement. (Nissan 370Z)

Our 03 LS8 is about to become a parts car by the looks. I don't really need more parts but such a shame to have a wrecker pick it up without me stripping it down first.

Just remember, you can't please everyone, say something on LVC, there will always be others that have a difference of opinion. Human nature, even for the Loud1.


.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 355 (members: 0, guests: 355)
Back
Top