94 ford explorer thermostat problem

Don't you mean to say "bolts" instead of "screws" ? They are not the same thing!!

The hard part is getting to the screws to unscrew them.

Not necessarily. There are wood screws and there are machine screws. For example, see

Charlie

A couple of thoughts on the Explorer cooling system based on what I have done with my 95 with 237000 miles.

1) The stock thermostat seems to go bad prematurely. It's just a spring valve that moves as it warms. One that is stuck closed is bad since it restricts coolant flow. One stuck open provides too much flow and slows engine warming time. It is easy to change the thermostat but messy. You will need to drain a small amount of fluid from the bottom of the radiator. Otherwise you have a coolant mess when removing the thermostat housing connected to the engine side of the top radiator hose. When purchasing a replacement (before working on the car) make sure you get the O ring that should come with it. 2) At about 150000 miles my Explorer started to run hot as indicated by the gauge. Turning on the heater (usually in summer) would provide additional cooling and bring the coolant temperature down. Turns out my radiator, which sits behind the air conditioner condenser, was clogged with junk in the fins. Cleaning this out fixed the problem. 3) At about 200000 miles the radiator started to leak - pin holes. I bought a new radiator for $135 and installed it. Most radiators are a snap to install and Explorer ones are even easier. Again got to mess with the coolant. 4) At about 210000 miles, during the cold winter days, the heater vents started to mist coolant. The heater core (a mini radiator under the dash) was leaking. Turns out for 95 and later it is a big job to change out this radiator. I had to pull out the whole dash. On a 94 and earlier the core is much easier to replace.

At this time my cooling system is working great. I only use the Explorer for camping trips and hauling a trailer. Mark

Well Charlie, after looking at the web site you mentioned, I stand corrected. If I recall, when the site talks about "machine screws", it says they are also known as "stove bolts", so apparently there is some interchangeability between the terms.

SF

Ah.... let's not forget cap screws - and all their various flavours...... hexagon cap screws, hexagon socket head cap screws, and many others right up until we reach the forever loved tamper-proof torx socket head cap screw. Taken to the extreme, any fastening device that uses an inclined plane wrapped around a central shaft (and fastened in a "screwing" motion - where the 'other' use of the word screw came from, I don't know - last time I checked, the motions were different) can be called a screw.

Incidentally, stove bolts are more of a poor cousin to machine screws. They are always round head, flat slot and coarse thread pitch. The nuts are square rather than hexagon. Additionally, stovebolts are generally made from relatively soft steel compared to good quality machine screws.

Moral of the story..... be it car, earth mover or space shuttle - those things that look ever so simple contain more technology than one could imagine.

Jim there is a pretty raunchy little poem that might help you with the alternate use of the word screw, but my somewhat antiquated feelings of decorum prevent me from posting to a newsgroup.

Charlie