DeepPower
Searchng4Truth
Driving home Friday night, I pulled into a shopping mall and stopped the SHO. I immediately saw/smelled coolant steam coming from under the hood. I opened the hood and saw steam coming from the thermostat housing. I tuned the key to the On position and saw the temp gauge rise to the N in Normal.
This changed my shopping plans. With the hood closed but not locked, I walked to the hardware store and bought two gallons of coolant, then the supermarket and bought two gallons of distilled water.
Half an hour later I drove the final 1/2 mile home although for some reason I had a **** of a time getting the car to start. Temp gauge reached the "N" for the two-minute drive, I coasted most of the way with the car in neutral.
Popped the hood and let the car cool in my garage overnight. I figured the thermostat failed shut (it's a "Fail-Safe" brand I had installed 10K miles ago) so Saturday I took a walk to O'Reillys and bought a new Murray #3978 180°F thermostat.
Removed the Fail-Safe - it is now stuck open. Don't know if that means the thermostat failed closed, then when it cooled it opened again? Thermostat is clean, no gunk, a little blackened at the top housing on the side of the jiggle valve.
Installed the new thermostat. The car took just a little under two gallons of antifreeze and water. Car started right up and running beautifully, but looked underneath and coolant was leaking from somewhere - it was dripping from near the oil pan. Checked the thermostat housing and it's secure. Looked and couldn't find a leak anywhere. I'm thinking ga$ket or water$pump.
Okay, at this point in writing this post I started the car one last time to see if I could find the leak. There's a short hose from the throttle body housing to the engine (what's it called?), the hose is soft and mushy and terribly ripped at the clamp at the engine side. I'm gonna walk to O'Reilly's again and replace that hose. BTW I've had a slight coolant leak for the past few months that I now know the source of. Thank you for listening and Happy Easter!
This changed my shopping plans. With the hood closed but not locked, I walked to the hardware store and bought two gallons of coolant, then the supermarket and bought two gallons of distilled water.
Half an hour later I drove the final 1/2 mile home although for some reason I had a **** of a time getting the car to start. Temp gauge reached the "N" for the two-minute drive, I coasted most of the way with the car in neutral.
Popped the hood and let the car cool in my garage overnight. I figured the thermostat failed shut (it's a "Fail-Safe" brand I had installed 10K miles ago) so Saturday I took a walk to O'Reillys and bought a new Murray #3978 180°F thermostat.
Removed the Fail-Safe - it is now stuck open. Don't know if that means the thermostat failed closed, then when it cooled it opened again? Thermostat is clean, no gunk, a little blackened at the top housing on the side of the jiggle valve.
Installed the new thermostat. The car took just a little under two gallons of antifreeze and water. Car started right up and running beautifully, but looked underneath and coolant was leaking from somewhere - it was dripping from near the oil pan. Checked the thermostat housing and it's secure. Looked and couldn't find a leak anywhere. I'm thinking ga$ket or water$pump.
Okay, at this point in writing this post I started the car one last time to see if I could find the leak. There's a short hose from the throttle body housing to the engine (what's it called?), the hose is soft and mushy and terribly ripped at the clamp at the engine side. I'm gonna walk to O'Reilly's again and replace that hose. BTW I've had a slight coolant leak for the past few months that I now know the source of. Thank you for listening and Happy Easter!
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