Noticed coolant leak near front end, vent only blows hot. Thermostat bad?

[Ghaleon64]

Howdy all!

Just noticed today a drip of coolant near the front end (not the damn reservoir, thank goodness...) and on the drive home, the vent air suddenly turned quite hot. Got it home, inspected under the hood and it appears to be coming from a little box to the left of the radiator with about 3 hoses coming in and out of it and an electrical plug. Not 100% sure, but that seems to be the source. Is that my thermostat? Perhaps just a split hose? Any advice/ideas?

 

[Ghaleon64]

Forgot to add, 06 V8.

And I found this diagram here on the site, the part in question is #1 on the diagram, "coolant control valve".

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/fo...ic-Fan-amp-Cooling-System-Diagram-for-1st-gen

Are these difficult/expensive to replace?

 

[joegr]

No, that's your DCCV. Replace it with the OEM Ford/Jaguar part if you want it to last more than a few months. Incidentally, I had the same failure mode on the one on my 06. It failed to full heat at the same time as it developed a pretty big external leak.

(By the way, that's the right side on the radiator. It's way less confusing if everyone follows convention and gives left/right descriptions from the perspective of someone sitting in the driver's seat.)

 

[joegr]

...Are these difficult/expensive to replace?

No, it can been done fairly quickly with the right tools. Here's the directions for your car. It really is quicker if you don't try to skip any of the steps indicated.

http://deneau.info/ls/s6x~us~en~file=s6xc1014.htm~gen~ref.htm
http://deneau.info/ls/s6x~us~en~file=s6x33004.htm~gen~ref.htm#extract_142

 

[Ghaleon64]

EXCELLENT! I knew I could count on ya, Joe.