my aeros have never given me trouble in this area. but my wifes windstar was a nightmare today!

she said it was overheating today and no heat was coming from the vents, I told her to add water. no fix, i told her to have it towed home, as she drove the aero to its death with no water once.

so i come home, its got water alright. but its still getting too hot and no heat out of the heater. hmmmm, I try replacing the thermostat. still too hot and no heat.

the mechanic suggests its a heater control valve. parts store says there is none. dealership says there is, but thats not the problem, try the water pump. my butt! like the fins corroded off overnight? I doubt it.

I keep thinking air pocket. there has to be an air pocket somewhere! the filler neck IS lower than the top of the block it seems. i took the new thermostat out, now it has no thermostat at all. figured something was keeping the water out, right? the thing was bone dry, like the coolant never got that far!

I stuffed a long tranny funnel into the filler neck of the radiator, to get the water level higher than the block. idled and revved the engine till it got too hot again. bubbles did burp out here and there, not much though. still no hot air out of the heater. i made sure the overflow res was topped off and yanked the tranny funnel out and capped the rad with the hot block. let it sit for bout 1/2 hour.

went back and saw the overflow tank was empty. YES! maybe it burped some more and the new water ran in. I refill the overflow tank and i start her up and i have heat! and it wont overheat! success! but now its lacking the thermostat. ARGH! do I dare put it back in and get the air bubble again?

we just had a new baby 2 weeks ago, and my wife says all i needed to do is whack the van on the back for a while. hmmmmm. maybe I'll try that next time, when i put the thermostat back in.

 

Well, do you dare run without a thermostat. I mean, without one, you will be lucky to get 12 mpg. Also, you now endager the engine, not from overheating, but rather chronic overcooling results in poor lubrication. What I always do, on the Aerostar, is help burp it by squeezeing the opper hose. This forces the bubbles out, and the coolant flows in. It may take a while. Make certain the thermostat is installed faceing the correct direction. This should be with the thermostatic chamber faceing the engine. That would be the part with the spring on it. Please osmeone else here confirm this, as I'm not certain on the Windstar. I have had water pumps fail without prior warning, but I do doubt that is the problem.

 

yeah, when I got the new thermo, I checked the old one, and the gasket material was still stuck on the spring side, and the other side nests down in the housing side, not the block side, so yes, the spring does go in the block, thats the way I had it.

I tried the squeeze and release trick on the upper hose and with no luck, it was entirley cool and flacid, water wasnt even making it that far.

maybe now that I know how to burp the dang thing I'll put that thermo back in before our 240 mile trip tomorrow.

 

very possible the water pump has sheared inside.

 

Also check if your Windstar has a water pump with a plastic impeller those types of pumps are crap and can break in a heartbeat.

Rather then eroding like metal impeller types they can crack and not rotate with the shaft anymore so all you have is a spinning shaft accomplishing nothing and moving no coolant.

 

think we found are first solid answer. the above is correct.


if you continue to run it you will warp the heads or distort the block.

 

What I have done many times is drill a small hole in the thermostat flange.
Make sure the gasket doesn't cover the hole.
This will allow air to be expelled and the system to burp itself.

There are no adverse affects using this method.

I have never tried this but an aspirin between the valve and flange works too.
By the time the aspirin disolves the air should be expelled.

 

put back in correct new 195d F thermostat....fill with 50% antifreeze mix....park so front end 1>2 ft. higher than rear or on ramps or stands....leave radiator cap off....run engine until it reachs operating temp with heater on max then off several times...top off coolant...put on new radiator cap and turn to first click, about 1/4 turn....run engine for 20 minutes varing rpm up to 3k rpm with heater on max and then off....
FoMoCo shop technique to remove cooling system air

if this does not work, then you have the infamous leaking 3.8L head gaskets with yours leaking hot combusted gases into cooling system...

 

This is what I was going to suggest.

 

made the 240 mile trip with no thrmostat and no trouble. the temp barely rises above the blue line, and the heater blows hot enough. there is no marked change in the mpg either.

I am going to put in the thermostat when we get back home tomorrow. just an update to let you all know that its fine!