Down Again

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

Ill look into that for sure, it'll be a necessary step after I replace the thermostat. I took it for a drive tonight after dwelling on it for most of the day. Let it idle for 10 minutes....perfect center of the gauge temp. Drove it, in town the gauge dropped very little, on the highway, dropped back down to almost below the normal range. More throttle resulted in a slight jump in temp and then back down. The slower I went the warmer it got. So im thinking the thermostat is stuck open somehow or it blew the oring off of it like the last one I replaced, except the last one never reached operating temp just stayed low. Either way I am fairly confident the pump is okay. So I'll tack thermostat to the list along with another acm (the one I just put in shit the bed already) and see about a vac to vacuum fill the system. I have a vac for the ac and a vac for bleeding brakes, what would you recommend? And what's your favorite kind of sandwich? Mines Beretta on rye with cheese.

 

[6500rpm]

I'm hit or miss on the forum and probably missed some of your posts, but when you say oil pressure gauge, are you referring to an add on, or a diagnostic gauge like the one pictured. I wouldn't trust anything but a mechanical test gauge. Also, if you want to, PM me your Vin and I can run an OASIS search for any dealer performed repairs in the past. If your pressure was actually excessively low, besides noise, I would expect codes associated with cam phasers and or solenoids.

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

The good news is there are no other engine codes and barely any noise, the HPFP is louder than anything, I have noticed a little bit of a rattle that sounds like valvetrain but its so minimal it could be coming from the phasers which is probably normal. I only noticed it when I was trying to listen for issues. with the engine cover on and hood shut you cant hear anything. As for my older posts, I did a series of tests with a mechanical test gauge a couple years ago (cold old oil, warm old oil, cold fresh, warm fresh, warm fresh with lucas), I then added an electrical pressure gauge to the dash that read same as the mechanical. soon after the oil light came back this last time, the gauge died a day or 2 afterwards. since then I have added a shockproof mechanical gauge with a 2' line under the hood so I can verify anything from the light to my next electric gauge. The plan was to put my own low pressure switch in line with the new gauge with a warning light on my gauge pod so that if something was off and the gauge wasnt reflecting the same I could check the under hood gauge. sounds like a long way around when I could just install a mechanical gauge in the car, but with how tight the dash is already and the low but still potential risk of an oil leak sitting on top of the infotainment and all the computers, I figured Id do anything but pipe an oil line into the car. Ill send you my vin for sure, I got some records when I bought the car but not full ones, just the PO recent repairs and the carfax highlights. Im the 4th owner so Id be curious to see what all has happened to the car over the years that may explain the high turnover.

 

[ShatteredMJ]

I’m sorry for the simple recommendation given your situation, but did you replace your coolant reservoir’s cap? I had pressure issues before and it was a straightforward fix for me.

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

I may replace the cap to cover all my bases, but the culprit has been found. Thermostat appears to have jammed open somehow... never saw a failure like the first one, and never seen this either. In the middle of bleeding the system, too late to run a compressor, not sure how the ac pump would handle it, so going old school with a tire on a ramp holding the reservoir higher than the engine. Time will tell but it seems to me that this would do it. And when I say jammed i mean won't move at all. Went with a Gates this time, last one (pictured) was a MotoRad. Now the million dollar question assuming this is the fix.....do I feel dumb? Yes.

 

[kryptto]

I may replace the cap to cover all my bases, but the culprit has been found. Thermostat appears to have jammed open somehow... never saw a failure like the first one, and never seen this either. In the middle of bleeding the system, too late to run a compressor, not sure how the ac pump would handle it, so going old school with a tire on a ramp holding the reservoir higher than the engine. Time will tell but it seems to me that this would do it. And when I say jammed i mean won't move at all. Went with a Gates this time, last one (pictured) was a MotoRad. Now the million dollar question assuming this is the fix.....do I feel dumb? Yes.

View attachment 96641View attachment 96642View attachment 96643

Shitz happens and sometimes this gets past us.

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

Shitz happens and sometimes this gets past us.

I think i was more just in disbelief another thing went wrong. I forgot all about the hvac fan dying in the middle of all the other stuff I mentioned lol

 

[ShatteredMJ]

Get a Reische Ford-4D thermostat. I’ve been using them for a long time and one has yet to fail. They come with 5 years warranty as well if I remember correctly.

 

[BradM]

I may replace the cap to cover all my bases, but the culprit has been found. Thermostat appears to have jammed open somehow... never saw a failure like the first one, and never seen this either. In the middle of bleeding the system, too late to run a compressor, not sure how the ac pump would handle it, so going old school with a tire on a ramp holding the reservoir higher than the engine. Time will tell but it seems to me that this would do it. And when I say jammed i mean won't move at all. Went with a Gates this time, last one (pictured) was a MotoRad. Now the million dollar question assuming this is the fix.....do I feel dumb? Yes.

View attachment 96641View attachment 96642View attachment 96643

Congratulations! I too have never seen a thermostat do this. Is one side of it contacting the housing? How is it staying open? Crazy.

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

Congratulations! I too have never seen a thermostat do this. Is one side of it contacting the housing? How is it staying open? Crazy.

Just tack it to the list of quandries with this car. I threw it on the ground a few good times and pushed it around by hand and it won't budge, nothing appears bent either. No clue how it happened but thats a neat trick.

 

[kryptto]

Get a Reische Ford-4D thermostat. I’ve been using them for a long time and one has yet to fail. They come with 5 years warranty as well if I remember correctly.

got one works perfectly and I even did a boil water test using the coffee cup heating unit and infrared thermometer to entertain myself it was smooth and not spring open of closed.

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

After the laundry list @6500rpm showed me for my cars history, im taking a minute to digest. Good news is there isnt much that hasnt been done already (Trans rebuilt, Torque converter replaced, PTU replaced, Timing chains, Water pump, APIM, Etc). The APIM was reprogrammed a week after it was sold and replaced 2 years later. Getting a real Christine vibe at this point except instead of putting itself together its taking itself apart. Im going to push through and fix what needs fixing, no choice, but the excitement is definitely at an all time low. Just spent the weekend on my endless other projects

 

[G Kitsmiller]

I had a very similar experience. I bought mine at an auction, I am an RV dealer, not a car dealer. Got a good deal. I was getting really strange codes and readings. I replaced what seemed like every sensor. I went so far as to replace the main engine wiring harness. I FINALLY tucked tail and had a Ford dealer diagnose it. It cost me $150. Ended up being the ECU. Pretty cheap fix, but very very frustrating. Moral of story, Ford computers and Ford dealers diagnose on the cheap. Changing good parts is expensive.

 

[Devin]

It takes a village to raise a SHO.

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

It takes a village to raise a SHO.

It does and without this forum I'd be lost. It gets really old saying things like "thats a common issue" and "they're known for that" but understanding the machine is step 1.

I had a very similar experience. I bought mine at an auction, I am an RV dealer, not a car dealer. Got a good deal. I was getting really strange codes and readings. I replaced what seemed like every sensor. I went so far as to replace the main engine wiring harness. I FINALLY tucked tail and had a Ford dealer diagnose it. It cost me $150. Ended up being the ECU. Pretty cheap fix, but very very frustrating. Moral of story, Ford computers and Ford dealers diagnose on the cheap. Changing good parts is expensive.

Forscan is second to the village and has been critical to just about every single issue I have had with my car, I have a genuine and justified distrust in auto repair shops, I do everything in house but tires and I take them to one place I know the owner personally and can watch them do the entire process. My fear is dishonest diag to attempt driving up the repair bill or sell me on a new car, whereas forscan can do almost anything they can do. I definetly agree, there is a difference between a mechanic and a parts changer, and swapping parts gets expensive if you are shooting in the dark. If I have no choice but to do trial and error, its a quick part to change and I like to swap them for junkyard ones because Ive had new china parts fail out of the box. OEM is china too but its china supreme. my issues arent related or misguided repairs, its a series of unholy events happening to my car and from the repair log I looked at, it has been cursed since birth. She's a stubborn one, but my motto is "you die when I say you die". If she wants to act up she isnt getting 5 star dining, shes getting spaghetti at home.

But with all her issues, she has been back to daily status for a couple weeks now while I clean up the can of worms my truck has become. a small coolant leak turned into removing the intake and now I have uncovered a bunch of little repairs, while waiting on parts cylinder 3 and 4 got coolant in them and its a 5.4 3v so just popping the plugs out to get water out isnt as easy a solution as making vacuum attachments to suck water out from the top lol. but the SHO's quirks have started becoming common place and part of her character, left turns in high humidity will set off the advance track and collision avoidance (steering rack), hard acceleration sets off the o2 codes, and general cruising will set off the cat efficiency code. she needs a transmission mount and some other odds and ends but while big girl is down the diva has to go to work.

 

[LilCop2002]

I may replace the cap to cover all my bases, but the culprit has been found. Thermostat appears to have jammed open somehow... never saw a failure like the first one, and never seen this either. In the middle of bleeding the system, too late to run a compressor, not sure how the ac pump would handle it, so going old school with a tire on a ramp holding the reservoir higher than the engine. Time will tell but it seems to me that this would do it. And when I say jammed i mean won't move at all. Went with a Gates this time, last one (pictured) was a MotoRad. Now the million dollar question assuming this is the fix.....do I feel dumb? Yes.



Do you know when the MotorRad was installed? You and I were battling these issues at the same time and mine was a MotorRad that went bad on me.

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

@LilCop2002 October 2023, first real repair I made to the car a month after I bought it, leaned heavily on this forum to decide what to go with and the motorad was highly recommended, fixed the issue, car racked about 50k in 2024 and then sat for half of 2025. Its hard to be mad at the car considering everything thats already been done to it and the fact that I put around 60k hard-ish miles on it in 2 years, but the thermostat shouldnt have failed that quickly and considering how strangely it failed im blaming motorad, if the Gates fails not only will I be surprised but Ill just get a motorcraft OE premium china genuine part

 

[LilCop2002]

Yup. I concur with your sentiments. I can't recall when mine went in and the system was burped but I haven't had an issue since I replaced it.