As far as I know the thermostat is original 106k on the car. The coolant was changed about 2-3 years ago I believe. It sounds like its no easy task to change the thermostat, is there anyway to tell if its going before an outright failure? Also could this cause reduced mpg/power?
thermostat & coolant maintnance
- Thread starter purelux
- Start date
Rock Strongo
LVC Member
It's been my experience that t-stats pretty much fail suddenly, with little warning. I'm not saying they never give you a warning, but I've never had one personally. Keep in mind that in 20 years I've only had 2 stats fail and one occurred about a week after I bought the car. Also, I generally change the t-stat every 50K, so they don't ever get too old.
At 100K+ I would replace it as well as the hoses. You can use whatever brand of hose you like, but I would recommend a Ford t-stat. I compared the original Ford t-stat from my Ranger to a Stant unit at Advance and the difference was night and day. The Ford t-stat was much beefier in construction and the spring had neary double the numer of coils.
At 100K+ I would replace it as well as the hoses. You can use whatever brand of hose you like, but I would recommend a Ford t-stat. I compared the original Ford t-stat from my Ranger to a Stant unit at Advance and the difference was night and day. The Ford t-stat was much beefier in construction and the spring had neary double the numer of coils.