What a joke. Ever since i picked up my certified used explorer from the dealer, I wondered what was gonna happen down the road. Was all good until now. Hopped in my truck this morning on my way to the grocery store to get some goods to prepare for the strom coming tonight into friday morning and throught Saturday.

Anyway, got in my truck and it started right up, blasted out of my driveway and went down the road to yield onto the highway. As usual, i press the accelerator to the floor and listen to the RPM's scream to the redline and blow past slow-moving diesels,, about 10 miles into the trip and the Acme right around the corner,, all is good. Got what i needed and hopped back in and headed home.

Again, stepped on the pedal like a madman and i look down at my tach and a short glance at the Temp gage. It was hotter than normal,, getting hotter by the second. Trying not to panic, i slowed down and with home only 3 or 4 miles down the road, i continue to the house. By the time i got home it was to the max at the red.

Got out, popped the hood and no signs of smoke or steam,, but i felt the alternator and some other various compenents and they were HOT, way hotter than usual. Called ford and booked one for Friday at 8:30 AM on the dot.

They said it could be a bad thermostat. Could this be true at only 49,000 miles? And in the winter time ahead? I purchased an extended warranty,, and i hope they dont BS about it.

 

Your 2000 explorer is considered new. If the thermostat is bad, they must have used a cheap part in it. If they put cheap parts in one location, they might be putting cheap parts in more areas. This is a bad sign. I think a thermostat should worked for at least 100,000 miles.

 

mustang

As I have bad experince with the fan hub clutches on some of my previous eurpeean cars, I would be curious to check if it engaged properly. But as long as you had proper speed on the weichle you should get enough air flow anyway.
But be supicious. I have had to lock this units sometimes by drilling trough, and putting in a locking pin.

If you operated on max revs, it maybe just could not hold the torque needed to move the air. ?? But I am not sure about it.

 

DId you check the coolant level (when it's cold of course)? If the level is ok, then I'd start with the thermostat.

 

Isn't this the way to check if the thermostat is working or not? Warm the engine at Idle then feel the upper radiator hose from the thermostat to the hose linking to the radiator , if it is hot then the thermostat is working so no need to change it if it works.

 

well that's one way to check it I would run it up to running temp and put a thermometer in the radiator and see what the temp is should be 192*if lower or higher replace the thermo they are not that hard to change besides it don't hurt to change the every 2 years along with the antifreeze

 

The question remain to ask is how long do a thermostat works?2 years or 5 years or 10 years or 20 years?

I need to call the thermo manufacturer to find out from their engineers. It's hard for me to change because I'm disabled and can't bend over.