I recently replaced my injector sleeves. Evertyhing seemed to go OK. I was in the process of flushing my cooling system today, and the truck would not come up to temperature. I took it out on the road for about 3 miles and brought it back to the house. The temperature gauge moved a little bit but not like it did before I performed the maintenance on the sleeves. I squeezed the top radiator hose and it was somewhat warm, but water was not flowing through it like it should be.

I thought it might be the thermostat, so I started to take it off. When I took off the radiator hose I noticed 2 rubber gaskets in the housing on top of the thermostat. I think one may have become lodged in the thermostat keeping it open hence the engine not coming to temp, but not sure. I am pretty sure there is only one gasket that goes to the thermostat, not three. Any ideas what these other gaskets may have come from?

I did have diesel in the coolant, so I know that is not good on rubber seals.

 

there is a thermostat gasket/seal. the only other one i know if is the lower hose flange on the water pump. it is an oring, but a lot larger than the thermostat one. i had a similar find when i did my thermostat...but i figured it was black rtv...mine wasnt in one piece. but when i did the oil cooler in may we found lots of "black silicone" pieces in the cooler. just used a coat hanger and cleaned all the coolant passages. but mine before the thero nevr would get up to temp...wouldnt blow heated air ever.

 

Thanks Chris. I am going to fill it up with water and re-install the thermostat and see what happens. I just hope those seals didn't come form something that will cause permanent damage to my motor. I have to drive 240 miles prom PA to VA tonight.

 

like i said...dont know where they would come from...especially in one piece. the water pump would chew them up. are you sure it wasnt the outer 2 and inner parts of the one piece thermo gasket. the actual thermo gasket is split in the middle. it sandwiches the thermo...maybe yours just came apart. that is my only thought...no other way, i beleive for something to get there thru the water pump. the pump pumps from the bottom of the rad thru the thermo and thru the system back to top rad hose...so for it to get to the thermo, it would have to go thru the pump...i think. check the extras and see is they are the same size and maybe it just broke. good luck to you

 

where in pa are you?

 

I had a very similar problem when I changed my thermostat on Friday. I found a complete rubber gasket stuck in my thermostat too. I have no idea where it came from hopefully you have no issues on your trip.

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I live in Fawn Grove, PA. It's about 30 minutes South of York, PA.

Yea, I went outside and tried to use the old gasket from my thermo, and it leaked terribly. I won't be making the trip tonight. Will be visiting the stealership tomorrow.

I am going to take the pieces of rubber gasket I found with me tomorrow. Hopefully the Ford guys will let me know where they came from. I will let you all know what I find out. Thanks again.

 

i aslo had this happened when i changed thermostat and the only thing that i could think of was the seal that on the degas bottle, cause mine was missing? take a look and see if you have that gasket???

 

OK. I visited the stealership and bought my new thermostat $40 bucks. The rubber o-rings I was worried about are actually part of the thermostat assembly. One is the actual gasket between the thermostat housing and the intake. The other two are located on the thermostat on either side that opens and closes. This makes me feel a lot better now, knowing that these pieces did not come from somewhere internally.

I still have diesel in the coolant, but the fluid level in the dega bottle has not risen. This tells me that there is no more diesel leaking from the injector sleeves. However, I have no idea how to flush 100% of the diesel from my cooling system.

 

Search this forum for coolant system flush. Before doing that procedure, though, I'd suggest getting all the fula you can out of the degas bottle. It'll float to the top and you an use a turkey baster to get it if it's deep, and some oil absorbing material if it's not. I ended up replacing my degas bottle, as I never could get all the deposits out of it.

I'd have sworn there was only a single gasket on the t-stat, itself...

Mark

 

Thanks ScaldedDog. The rubber gaskets on the thermostat surprised me too. I have never seen that type of set-up on a thermostat before. I guuess that's why it cost me $40 bucks.

I'll take your advice and replace the degas bottle. Thanks again.

 

Here's a write-up I did when I fixed my leaky t-stat housing. Maybe this can help you out. T-Stat Housing Replacement

 

Chris,
Excellent pics. Thanks for the feedback.